Indebted
by Madara-Baka
Summary: Amaya is a young girl of the Tsukino clan, a clan from Takigakure. Amaya's family is indebted to the criminal organization known as the Akatsuki. When she turns fourteen, her family bids her goodbye and she is sent to live with them. While there, she discovers all of the organization's dark secrets. An OC, OOC characters, AU, Good!Akatsuki. DeixOC, KisaIta, PeinKo, KakuHida.
1. Story Information

******DEFINITION:**

indebted, in-debt-ed. [in-det-id]. adjective. 1. comitted or obligated to repay a monetary lone: _He was indebted to his friend for a large sum. _2. obligated for favors or kindness recieved: _He was indebted to her for nursing him through pneumonia._

Source: dictionary DOT com

~INAF~

New fanfiction, kiddies~~

:D

~INAF~

**Summary:**

Amaya is a young girl of the Tsukino clan, a clan from Takigakure. The Tsukino clan possesses a little-known kekkai genkai that allows the user to absorb information, at will, about an item or person simply by touching them. Amaya's family is indebted to the criminal organization known as the Akatsuki. When Amaya turns fourteen years old, her family bids her goodbye and she is sent to live with them. While there, she discovers dark secrets about who's really running the group. Her world begins closing in around her as she discovers the true goal and purpose of the Akatsuki.

~INAF~

Prologue soon!  
Sorry about the horrible summary- I'm not the best at writing them!  
(Part of the cover gets cut off :/)

******DISCLAIMER: **I am under no delusions of owning Naruto or any of the pictures and songs featured through out this story, nor do I make claims to it. I never will. This disclaimer applies to every chapter in this story and all of my other stories, unless ownership is specifically stated.


	2. Prologue

Hey, Hi, Hello.

This is my new fanfic(: Thanks goes to firooz from wattpad for helping me (a lot) with this~ This is a prologue. Please enjoy and tell me what you think! As a note, 'Amaya' means 'night rain' and 'Tsukino' means 'moon field'.

******DISCLAIMER:** I so do not own Naruto. That right goes to Masashi Kishimoto.

******STORY WARNINGS:** OC, OOC, Au-ish, the Akatsuki is good (not Madara, he is still evil), some blood, violence, cussing, pairings to be determined. Not much to say besides that. These warnings are for the story overall. Warnings pertaining to each individual chapter will be included with them.

And so the prologue starts~~

~INAF~

_This was it. This was the end. This was the one moment I've been training for my entire life, my purpose._

I push myself to go faster, to run faster. I ignore the burning in my shaky legs- I was exhausted. I wasn't going to give up. I had just enough chakra left to do this one last thing, the thing that would give my existence meaning. I was going to be useful for once. I was going to save them.

I dodge the kunai thrown at me and keep moving. I didn't have the time to deal with anyone else. I was dead-set on saving them. They were my precious people, the ones that gave me meaning. I'd do anything to give them more time. I'd die for them. I hiss slightly as yet another kunai hits my back. I had several embedded in it, but I wasn't removing them. My arms were disabled, useless at my sides, and it would take too long to stop and get remove them by other means. I barely had enough time as it was.

_There. The clearing!_

I hurtle towards the clearing, seeing their figures up ahead through my tunnel vision. My vision was fading around the edges, slowly ebbing away to crimson and gray. It was likely due to the blood loss and excessive moment- I was sure the only reason I was still breathing was through sheer willpower. I keep moving forward, twisting this and that as much as I possibly could to dodge the things thrown at me. I get closer and closer-not a single one of them, those I was trying to save or the one I was trying to save them from, notice my approach. They're caught up in _**his**_ speech. He was getting ready to deal the final blow, the one that would end it all for everyone.

Unless I reached them just in time.


	3. Chapter 1 The Surprises of The Akatsuki

Hey, Hi, Hello.

Here is chapter one of 'Indebted'. The characters speak and behave as I imagine them to be if they weren't in the Akatsuki/aren't completely evil. I don't have a song that fits this chapter, but there is a song that partly inspired this story, so I'll put that (Have Faith In Me by A Day To Remember). Please enjoy this chapter(: When Zetsu is speaking, it will be switching between bold and normal to show his different personalities talking. Bold is the dark Zetsu and normal is the light Zetsu (if you want to call them that).

******DISCLAIMER:**I don't own Naruto:/  
**WARNINGS:** Hidan's cussing. OOC-ness, and it is on purpose. This is (going to be) an AU fic, and the Akatsuki is actually good in it.

******Anything in bold is important or with emphasis.**  
___If in mid-sentence, something in italics is emphasized. __  
____A thought looks like this. __  
____'Song lyrics look like this.' _

Let the games begin~

~INAF~

___'I said I'd never let you go,____and I never did.  
I said I'd never let you fall  
and I always meant it.  
If you didn't have this chance  
then I never did.  
You'll always find me right there,  
again.' _

~INAF~

Today was a very big day for me.

My mother woke me up early, to make sure that I bathed and got dressed and ate breakfast and all that. After all, she told me, it wasn't everyday one was sent to live with the infamous Akatsuki and did I really want to be late? The Akatsuki group wasn't exactly revered within our clan, but we were indebted to a member and that meant we did whatever he told us to. He was telling us to support the Akatsuki as much as we could, so we were.

Years before I was even born, my father was fighting for our village in the Third Shinobi World War. After a particularly nasty battle, he was left bleeding to death somewhere in a forest. Then a strange man came to him and healed him. My father, being a kind man, asked the stranger what he could do to repay the tremendous favor. All the stranger requested was that he dedicate his family to helping a group called the 'Akatsuki' and that more details would come in time. My father was so surprised by the request he accepted without thinking about it. I've asked my father before what the man looked like, but he told me he couldn't remember. I find that to be very weird and more than a little suspicious.

But that's how I came to this situation, this critical point in my life. I was leaving to join the most sought after criminal organization in the five lands. I knew next to nothing about them, only that they were after the jinchuriki and that one of them was from my own village, Taki. Everyone knew about him- he was loyal to Taki back when it was founded, but then he failed a mission and was shunned. He escaped, killed the village Elders (and he stole their hearts as well) and fled with our best kept secrets. No one ever said his name, so I didn't know what it was, but I didn't seem to hate him like everyone else does. The way I see it, what's the point of hating someone and wishing death upon them when they've never done anything wrong to me? And I don't even know what his name is.

I guess I'll find out soon. It was time for me to leave- I was to meet one of the members on the edge of the forest outside of the village. I hug my family members- mother, father, older brother and sister, younger brother and give them goodbyes. I told them I'd do my best to keep in contact by way of letters and anyway else I could. Then I'm off, sneaking out of the village, because they wouldn't let me willingly leave if they knew where I was going. There was a thick canopy of trees encircling the entire village and I climb them expertly, twisting myself this way and that. I'm silent as always. Having lived in Taki all of my life, I mastered navigating through the wet landscape without a single noise. Everything always seemed to be moist, having less to do with the amount of rain and more with the intense humidity. As I reach the top of the tree, preparing to jump the edge and descend to the ground, I take one look back at the village. The village was milling with life, people moving about the streets to get to their destinations. The huge tree in the center was providing shade for the entire village; even now, at the very far reaches, the shade reached me. The village was so colorful, so full of life, so ___familiar_. I sigh quietly and bite my lip. I couldn't stay any longer, or I would be late.

I turn my back on my village and drop down over the side, plummeting to the ground. My loyalty was to the Akatsuki now.

~INAF~

I realized who he was immediately.

It was pretty easy, because who would have just been sitting in a clearing outside of Taki, just waiting? Yes, the man was from the Akatsuki. He wore the black cloak with red clouds and had the look to him. His hair was bright blonde, part of it pulled back into a ponytail. His bangs covered his left eye. His visible eye was blue, reminding me of the sky. I approach him quickly, walking straight up to him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you Amaya, hm?" He asks, stepping back slightly.

"Hai. And I assume you are from the Akatsuki, ...?" I trail off.

He sticks his hand out for me to shake it, a bright smile on his face. "Hi, my name is Deidara, un. I'm a guy, I have mouths on my hands and I enjoy blowing things up, yeah."

I shake his hand, smiling at him. "I'm Amaya, nice to meet you! I sincerely hope we get along."

He releases my hand after shaking it. I note that he had purple nail polish and a ring on one of his fingers. And he really did have mouths on his hands- it was strange, and initially it was a little bit gross, but he seemed like a nice person and I hated judging people by how they looked or what I was told about them. "I hope we do too, Amaya, un. You're into kenjutsu?"

I nod. "Yup. I'll admit- I'm not the best, but I will be one day."

We start walking away from the village. "Kisame's extremely talented at kenjutsu, un. He has this sword, yeah, called Samehada-it's massive, un." I glance down at my katana. It was three feet long and half of a foot wide. The blade itself was such a dark gray it looked black and the ribbed handle was coal black. A blood red sash was wrapped around the hilt. I was quite proud of it- it was the first weapon I ever received. I loved it, and I was proficient at using it.

Deidara and I walk for hours, talking the whole way. He tells me it would be five days of travel, only stopping to sleep for a few hours. That was fine with me- I had been on missions before where I had to walk for two days straight, no sleeping, drinking or eating, just to be on time. On the way there, we become friends. I feel happy, knowing that even if everyone else hated my guts, at least I would have one friend.

~INAF~

It's the fifth and final day of traveling, and I feel very far from home. We've been heading north the whole way, and the ground has been at a steady incline for several hours. It's strange here- the air feels thin and everything is too still, too quiet. It's also much colder and drier compared to Taki. There was a waterfall in Taki and thousands upon thousands of large trees of all shades of green. The waterfall provided constant background noise, and the steady, soothing noise was the one thing I didn't realize I would miss. I knew I would miss my family, all of my friends and just knowing where I was, I didn't realize how much the noise meant to me. It was just another sign of how much my life was changing.

It's about an hour or so past noon when Deidara tells me, "Hey, we're almost to the base, yeah. You ready to meet everyone, un?" The incline was starting to even out a little bit. We were walking on a trail that had no twists or turns. It was going completely straight ahead, never narrowing or getting larger. The trees were bare, dull colored with sharp branches and dry bark. They were spread out, allowing one to see beyond the first few lines of them. It looked like the trees went on for miles in either direction, only getting closer together the further in they were. There were no natural colors other than gray, dull brown and white. The sky above was gray.

"I guess so," I reply, shrugging. What I was ___really_ ready to do was take a shower and eat something besides burnt rabbit and half stale bread. I was tired and aching from walking and sleeping on the ground. I wanted to sleep in a bed, or hell, even a couch would work right now. Just something that was half-way soft. I had to keep pushing, though, because we were almost there. After I got everything settled and done I could eat, shower and sleep.

Suddenly the ground leveled out completely. We kept walking, and the path slowly began to narrow. In fact, several feet up ahead it ended completely. Once we reach the dead end, Deidara stops and turns to me. "Here we are!" He declares cheerily.

"Are we?" I ask, looking around for the entrance. I didn't see any possible entrance around us, unless it was somewhere in the trees. I doubted that.

"Yup! Here, follow me, un," He says, and then he lifts his hands up and performs a hand sign. "Remember these hand signs, un, because they're how you get in, hm."

I watch his hands carefully as he makes a sequence of complicated hand signs. Once he's finished, something very strange appears on the ground at the end of the path. Deidara walks towards it and I follow him. It was a little stone slab, circular in shape and big enough for a larger person to fit in. He lifts the stone slab up to reveal a ladder leading down into the tunnel. He gestures for me to climb down into it, and I take a deep breath before descending into the darkness below. The ladder ends before I hit the ground, and I'm forced to jump down the remaining two feet to the ground. I can still see a little bit from the light streaming in. Deidara climbs in after me, pulling the stone slab back over and leaving us in darkness.

Deidara drops onto the ground next to me a few moments later. I feel a warm hand wrap around mine, and then he's pulling me through the tunnel after him. We take several turns, and I try to commit them to memory so maybe I wouldn't get lost in the future. Left, left, right, left, right, right, right, and then we arrive. Deidara lets go of my hand, quietly telling me to 'stay here, un' before walking away. From the sound of his footsteps, he walks to the left. There's a moment of silence before the entire tunnel is engulfed in light.

I look around in wonder. We were in a large room with stone walls and a high ceiling. On the wall before me there was a carving with twelve small, circular indentations. I peer at them carefully- they were arranged in a larger circle, the highest one being six feet up and the lowest about at my waist. Deidara was off to left, standing by some sort of switch. There was a single light bulb illuminating the room with a faint glow, like a bulb that was about to go out. He walks over, standing just in front of the circular engravings. "Pretty cool, un? It's to open the door. You just put your ring in the correct slot, yeah, and the door will open, hm. Look!" He exclaims, sliding his ring off of his finger and pressing it into one of the indentations.

The sound of stone scraping against concrete echoes throughout the stone room. The wall slowly slides up into the ceiling and, inch by inch, the Akatsuki is revealed.

There's nine people before me. The one in the front, who I assume is the leader, has piercings all over his face and spiky orange hair. There's a female standing to his left with amber eyes, blue hair and an origami flower. To the leader's right is a tall, imposing man who I identify immediately by the hitae-ate around his head. He was the one we were told stories about in the village, the guy who ripped hearts from the still breathing owners and used them as his own. To his left stood a silver-haired man wearing a strange pendant. Next to those two was a shark-ish looking man with a giant sword (I assumed he was Kisame, the one Deidara told me about) and a shorter, feminine man with long black hair. On the other side of the woman was a striking looking red head with artistic features and chocolate colored eyes. That would be Sasori, whom Deidara told me all about.

To Sasori's right stood possibly the strangest looking one of all. One half of his visible body was white and the other black. His eyes were yellow and his hair green, reminding me of the color of some of the trees back in Taki. He had some strange sort of Venus Fly Trap thing. It was hard to describe it. And, finally, to his right, was a shorter male wearing black clothing and an orange mask. His hair was black and he seemed to be really excited, jumping up and down in place. They all wore Akatsuki cloaks except for him, inclining me to believe that he wasn't an actual member of the Akatsuki, just an underling.

The only thing I seemed able to think in that moment was, ___These people are strange looking._

The orange haired man steps forward, a politely blank look on his pierced face. I was a little bit surprised about that, because I was under the impression that these people were out-and-out evil and just plain rude. This man's attitude unnerved me, because I thought he would be unkind and while he did seem to have that air about him, it didn't entirely work for him. He didn't seem evil, just tired of the world. "Welcome to the Akatsuki. Call me Leader-sama. Everyone, introduce yourselves."

The woman steps forward first. "Hi, I'm Konan. It'll be good to have another girl around." She seems nice, too. Her voice is soft and something about her puts me at ease.

The silver haired guy says, "I don't think I should have to fucking introduce myself to an unworthy heathen bitch like you, but my name is Hidan. I'm a follower of the all-mighty Jashin-sama." And he seemed like a douche bag. Or, at the very least, extremely religious.

Without moving a muscle, the slim black haired man spoke. "Uchiha Itachi." Ahh, an Uchiha. In Taki they used to be in the bingo books, back before they were all murdered, and now there was just one, named Itachi. It was strange, meeting all these people who were in bingo books that I wasn't attempting to kill or who weren't trying to kill me. It made my missing nin status that much more real to me. I was hundreds of miles from home, traveling and speaking with missing nins. I would be working and spending time around them. I'd even be living with them.

Kisame stepped forward with a grin on his face. "Hey, kid, my name is Kisame. You dabble in kenjutsu?" His voice was deep and smooth, reminding me of my father's.

I nod. He was tall, imposing, and had distinctly shark like features. He was a kind person, it seemed, or at least much more easy-going than the others. "Hai, Kisame-san." I reply quickly.

"You seem to be halfway polite. Nice to meet ya, kid." He chuckles deeply, voice rumbling in his chest.

The nin from Taki introduces himself next, not moving a muscle from his position just like Itachi had done. "My name is Kakuzu. Being from Taki, you surely have heard of me before." His voice is deep like Kisame's, but rougher and definitely creepier. Nearly every inch of his skin was covered. It was rumoured in the village he used a jutsu that marred his skin and gave him a strange appearance. That was probably true.

I nod. "They tell stories about you."

He chuckles bitterly. "Not surprised."

"AH! I can't hold it anymore, Zetsu-san!" The orange-masked man-child-boy (I'm honestly not sure of his age-he acted like a child, though he appeared to be older than I was) exclaims, literally running forward to me. He clings on my arm, tugging on my flak jacket. "HI! TOBI IS A GOOD BOY!"

"-?" I send a questioning look to Deidara, who is currently face-palming. Apparently this was normal behavior for him. I turn back to Tobi, smiling at him. In all honesty, something creeped me out about Tobi. He seemed to be too innocent for it to be sincere. I didn't know much about him, but I did realize that he was definitely different and it would be best if I acted normal. "Hi, Tobi the good boy. Could you please let go of me now?"

"Well, Tobi guesses so! Only if you'll spend time with Tobi later!" He declares, punctuating each syllable with a yank on my flak jacket.

"Yes, Tobi, I promise," I respond.

Sasori rolls his eyes. "Gaki. I am Sasori," he says simply. His voice is deep, not as deep as Kisame or Kakuzu's, and it still holds a certain lightness to it and overall smoothness. Like a teenager's, which is what he looked like. A kid, around my age. Deidara told me he was a living puppet, and while it seemed almost impossible before, I was definitely believing it now. There was a man with tons of odd piercings, someone with mouths on their hands, a guy that looked like a shark, and a person with two polar opposite skin colors, one white and the other black. Why not add 'human puppet' to that steadily growing list of bizarre people. I nod and my gaze turns to the strange man Tobi called Zetsu.

"I am Zetsu. ******What is your name?**" He says. His voice sends uneasy shivers down my spine. He was as off-putting as Tobi. Distinctly different. He spoke in two different voices, like he was two people crammed into the same body. Maybe that was why one part of his body was white and the other was black? Seemed relatively plausible.

"Amaya Tsukino." I answer him. Kakuzu seems a little bit interested in this, probably because my family was there during the founding period of Taki. Perhaps he worked with them, or at least knew of them. I should ask him about that later, though he most likely didn't care about talking to me of all people.

"Hmm.******Your scent is********distinctive**," Zetsu purrs, yellow eyes flashing with something that made my stomach twist in pure discomfort. I smile tightly at him, trying not to be impolite. No reason to make him dislike me.

"Ah, I, uh, thank you?" I say , unsure of how to take that. Was it a compliment or just an observation?

"Well, Leader-sama, perhaps you should give Amaya-chan a de-briefing?" He says, coming to my rescue. I sigh silently in relief as Deidara decides to step in, and my posture relaxes slightly as the subject is changed.

"Yes, Deidara. Amaya, follow," Leader-sama says, turning on his heel and heading further into the base. I follow him quickly, glancing around and taking in my surroundings. The ceiling is high, stretching two floors up. There was a staircase carved into the wall, leading up to what I assumed was the second floor. The room we were in now seemed to be a living room or den of sorts. There was the large stone doorway, of course, and the staircase on the far left wall. There was two doorways against the far wall, where Leader-sama was leading me. There was a long bookshelf against the same wall, too, but it was pushed into the corner. There was a television over to the right, with two big couches in front of it. Another door lead off somewhere, and there was a door on the same wall as the entrance. I briefly wonder about why there was a TV-it's not like we'd have cable or anything, right?

Leader-sama leads me through the door on the left. It appears to be an office. Three of the walls are lined with shelves, holding books, scrolls, bottles, containers, files, folders, boxes, all sorts of stuff. A desk sits in the middle of the room, covered in different papers, scrolls, files and folders. Two armchairs sit on one side, and a rolling desk chair sits on the other. Leader-sama gestures for me to sit down in one of the armchairs as he walks around the desk and sits in the rolling desk chair.

I sit down in the chair. I keep my eyes to the front, observing Leader-sama. My hands are still, folded together on my lap. Leader-sama looks at me, watching me and taking in my appearance. I wasn't the most normal looking person-cyan blue hair down to my shoulder blades, vibrant red eyes, a doll-like face and porcelain skin. I was on the shorter side, too, and I was petite. My mother said I was like a living doll.

"So you're of the Tsukino clan." It's not a question- Leader-sama was making a statement. I know this, yet I nod anyway. He pushes back in his chair and opens a drawer on his desk. He removes a small wooden box and sets in on his desk, lifting up the lid. I realize what it is- a ring box. There were twelve little slots for them, only three still holding a ring. He removes one and holds it out to me. I lean forward to take it, and he drops it into my outstretched hand. I clutch it within my hand, glancing down to observe it. It was slate blue in color, the kanji for 'void' inscribed in it. "Place it upon your left pinkie finger."

"Hai, Leader-sama," I reply, sliding the ring into place. The metal is cold against my skin.

"You are to wear that at all times. Speak to Konan about the other requirements of your uniform. She will give you all that you need for it. You will find your room upstairs, with the same symbol that is on your ring upon your door. You can decorate your room to your liking, within reason. Tomorrow at noon report to the training room. You will be holding a one on one battle against another member, who is to be determined, so I can properly observe your skills. You may explore the base as you wish. Do not attempt to enter the rooms of others without permission, or any room that is locked. In a few days time you will be sent on a mission to capture the Shichibi. Here is the scroll with all of the mission details," he says, almost like he's done this many times before (he probably has), picking a scroll off of his desk and handing it to me. I take the scroll, but I don't look inside, instead opting to put it in my pouch. I'd wait for that until I left. "You will be going with Kakuzu and Hidan, so after you are done with the scroll give it to them. If you have any questions ask them. If you currently have none, you are dismissed."

I stand quickly. "Okay, Leader-sama." I pause slightly, waiting to see if he was going to say anything else, but he doesn't, so I turn and exit his office. As soon as I close the door behind me, I'm tackled by Tobi.

"AMAYA-CHAN!" He shouts, pulling on my arm. "TOBI IS A GOOD BOY!"

I smile at him. "Yes, Tobi the good boy. I have to go speak to Konan-chan right now, but I'll spend some time with you tomorrow. Is that okay?"

He pauses in his pulling and excited jumping, slumping slightly, "Well, Tobi wanted to play with Amaya-chan now..."

"Look at it this way, Tobi. I'm really tired from traveling for so long, so if I tried to play now it wouldn't be much fun. So if you gave me some time to rest and settle, I'll be focused on playing with you," I reason with him. ___Kami, it's like talking to a five year old._

"Well..." Tobi says, tapping his mask with one finger, like he's thinking. "Okay! But only if you promise Tobi!"

"I promise, Tobi," I answer, smiling at him. "Now I've got to go, okay? Bye."

"Goodbye, Amaya-chan!" He shouts, running off in a different direction. I sigh at his antics and set out to look for Konan.

I find her to be in the kitchen. One of the doors in the living room led to the kitchen. She's sitting at a large wooden table, humming slightly to herself and sipping tea. Deidara is in here, too, and he smiles and waves as he's making something in a pan on the stove. There's two doors in the kitchen, one leading to what I assumed was the pantry, if the view I could see told me anything. That door was left open, and I could see various foods and jars lining the shelves. One side of the room had cabinets, a refrigerator and a stove, and the other held even more cabinets, a dish washer, a sink and a trashcan. The wooden table sat in the center, surrounded by eleven chairs.

I approach her. "Uh, Konan-san? I was told by Leader-sama to see you about my uniform."

She looks up, blinking at me. "Ah, Amaya-san," she says, standing, "please follow me." I nod, and she brushes past me. I follow her quickly. She leads me out of the kitchen and through the second door, the one by Leader-sama's office. I look around as we walk through, straight to a door on the opposite side. This was probably the training room, if Itachi boredly throwing kunai and shuriken at targets across the room was anything to judge by. I don't have much time to take in much, because Konan begins talking to me.

"So Amaya-san, how are you liking the Akatsuki so far?" She opens the door, stepping through, and I follow after her. We're now in a room that's full of clothing and fabrics, all lining the walls. This seemed to be where they did the uniforms. There was a sewing machine and various sewing materials on the work table in the corner, and most of the rest of the space was taken up by different cloths and fabrics of different shapes, colors, patterns and sizes. She scoops up a measuring tape from the table and gestures for me to hold my arms out.

"Well," I answer, "It's not what I expected, but in a good way."

"Oh? How so?" She asks, wrapping the tape measure around my waist and getting the measurement. She writes it down on a scrap piece of paper sitting on the table.

"Well, I didn't expect it to be one big base. And there's a TV, electricity, indoor plumbing...plus, it's huge. Makes me wonder how people have no clue where we are," I answer, trying be as still as possible. She measures my arm length and width, pausing to write them down.

"I can't give a lot of details, but I can tell you that it wasn't easy getting all of this together. Took years. And the TV doesn't have cable or anything, but there is a DVD player so we can watch movies and stuff. As for the electricity and plumbing and our location still being hidden, we have our ways and we're perfectly safe for the time being," she tells me, crouching to measure my legs. Her hand brushes my bare leg and I resist the urge to shiver. Her hands seemed cold.

"For the time being," I repeat, and she glances up at me.

"That does sound strange, but I promise we are," she chuckles, writing down another measurement. We sit in a comfortable silence as she continues getting all of my measurements, pausing in between to write them down. After a little bit, she stands and puts the tape measure down. "Well, we're done with measuring. Tell me, what are your shirt, pant and shoe sizes?"

I answer easily, and she nods before searching through the clothes to find the correct sizes. She produces several folded pairs of black shinobi pants, mesh shirts, and two pairs of black shinobi sandals. I take them from her, holding them with one arm. She also gives me a small bottle of light purple nail polish. "Now, you don't have to wear these at the base, but when ever you leave you need to have these on. The nail polish, much like the ring, needs to be on at all times, inside or not and on both your finger nails and your toe nails. The mesh shirts are optional, and you can wear mostly what you want under the cloak. If you have any questions or need anything, just tell me or the Leader and we'll help. I'll have your cloak to you by tomorrow," she finishes.

I nod. "Hai, Konan-san. Thank you," I answer, smiling at her.

She smiles softly back at me. "No problem, Amaya-san. Now, if you excuse me, I need to get to work on your cloak."

I nod and leave, my thoughts occupied. I wander to the second floor, passing by several members on my way. The only ones who acknowledge me are Deidara, Tobi and Hidan. Deidara smiles and waves, Tobi squeals and screams, "HI, AMAYA-CHAN! TOBI IS A GOOD BOY!", and Hidan scowls at me, muttering something about me being a bastard heathen before brushing rudely past me and going into the kitchen.

I locate my room easily. It's next to Kakuzu's, and across the hall from Deidara and Sasori's. Inside, I find the walls are painted a light gray and the carpet is black. There are two doors, leading somewhere, but I don't bother looking. I'd find out later. I place my new clothes on the plain black dresser and flop down on the bed. I was wearing my village's traditional ninja clothes- form fitting flak jacket, shinobi pants, sandals, hip and weapon pouches. I had been carrying a backpack, containing clothes and other personal belongings. I put that on the dresser next to the things Konan gave me before stripping down. I remove my flak jacket, pants and sandals, remaining only in my tank top and underwear. I turn off the light in my room and slide under the sheets. I was covered in grime, dirt, muck and I had sticks in my hair, but I was focused on just sleeping properly for the first time in five days. I would eat and shower when I woke up, but for now, I was too exhausted.

~INAF~

TA-DA.

The end. I hope you enjoyed it. Please comment and vote and all that. This has been roughly edited, so sorry about any mistakes. And sorry if it's boring and dry and everybody is way too OOC. If there are inconsistencies or mistakes compared to what's in the anime or manga, they're most likely on purpose. If you have any questions, kiddies, please ask:D

P.S. - This is over 5,000 words(: the longest chapter I've ever written.


	4. Chapter 2 Respect

Hey, Hi, Hello.

Welcome to chapter two of 'Indebted'! Please enjoy this(: the song is 'Sarcasm' by Get Scared.

******DISCLAIMER:**I don't own Naruto, nor will I ever.  
******WARNINGS:** Blood, Hidan's foul mouth, and that's really all.

******Anything in bold is important or with emphasis.**  
___If in mid-sentence or speech, italics are also something with emphasis.__  
____This is what Amaya's thoughts look like. __  
____'This is what song lyrics look like.' _

And so it starts~

~INAF~

___'Failure find me__  
____to tie me up now__  
____Cause I'm as bad, as bad as it gets.__  
____Failure find me__  
____to hang me up now__  
____by my neck cause I'm a fate worse than death.' _

~INAF~

The next morning I wake up at what feels like dawn. I untangle my body from the sheets, feeling disappointment settle over me. So the Akatsuki thing wasn't a dream like I had been hoping. I swallow heavily and rise from my bed, ready to go ahead and start my day. Moping wouldn't get me anywhere, and I had stuff to do so I didn't have the time.

The first task I set out for myself was to find out where a bathroom with a shower was. I open the first unidentified door to discover it was a closet. That was okay- I'd need somewhere to hang clothes. I get lucky with the next door, because it leads to a bathroom. There was another door, leading to what was probably another member's room, so I probably shared it with Kakuzu, who was next door to me. It was pretty simple- a shower, a toilet, a sink and some cabinets. There was a mirror hanging over the sink, too. I turn the water on in the shower, making sure it was warm enough before scurrying back to my room and getting my things. I brought my own soap and stuff, so I was safe in that regard. I just hoped there was a towel in one of those cabinets.

I cringe with every step-even my underclothes were filthy, caked in dirt and mud. I'd need to do some major soaking in the shower just to feel halfway clean again. I get my soap, shampoo and conditioner and a clean set of clothes to wear. I put them on the marble counter top and lock both of the doors to ensure no one would be coming in and bothering me. Then I strip all of my clothes off and step into the warm spray of water. It relaxes my muscles and I just sit there, savoring the warmth. Soon enough, though, I realize that I needed to hurry up and get out so I would have time to eat breakfast and paint my nails before my match against one of the members.

I scrub my skin until it turns pink under the force and I massage the shampoo and conditioner into my long blue hair. The water that had originally run a particularly nasty brown color flows clear by the time I'm done. I step out of the shower, dripping wet and cold. Goose bumps rise on my skin at the sudden change in temperature, and I make quick work of finding a towel. I manage to find a fluffy green one in the cabinet space beneath the sink. I dry myself off and dress quickly, only pausing to look at myself in the mirror for a moment. I was petite, almost disgustingly thin. I had the body of a ten year old, though I was fourteen.

I just sigh and leave the bathroom, taking the towel and dirty clothes with me. I toss the dirty clothes in a drawer and sit on my unmade bed, running the towel over my hair in an effort to dry it. It isn't working much, so I just give up and focus on combing it. A sore scalp and ten minutes later I'm finally done taming it. and it's reduced from a sopping wet mess to a neatly combed, still-damp curtain of hair. From my position I can hear the sink in the bathroom running, reminding me I needed to brush my teeth. That could wait a few more minutes until they were out of the bathroom, so I focus my attention on making my bed and unpacking my things. When the sink's turned off I'm half way through unloading my things. I didn't bring much, just some clothes and other necessities. I put my things to the side and go to brush my teeth, very conscious of the fact someone else was probably in the room next to me.

Thirty minutes later I'm done unpacking and I've gotten my finger nails carefully painted. I decide to just forget about painting my toe nails for now, so I just slip on my sandals and head downstairs. In the living room I come across Itachi, who doesn't acknowledge me at all, and Kisame, who does.

"Hey, kid!" Kisame greets, standing from where he had been sitting on the couch. He shocks me by engulfing me in a bear hug, effectively cutting off my air supply before finally releasing me. "How's it goin'?"

"Hey, Kisame-san, Itachi-san. Ah, okay. Do you know what time it is?" I ask, still slightly shell-shocked from the hug. Itachi just 'hn's at my greeting, flipping another page in the book he was reading.

"Nah, sure don't. Hey, Itachi-san, do you?" He asks, craning his head to look at Itachi. Itachi's gaze flickers up, observing us fleetingly.

"11:50," he answers, voice quiet. I pale slightly at that- it was that late? It was almost time for my match.

"Almost time for my match. I gotta go. Are you guys gonna watch?" I ask, absentmindedly twirling the ring on my finger. I shift my weight to my other foot. The nerves were coiling in my stomach. The way the Akatsuki was talked about, it seemed like I didn't have a chance.

"I am!" Kisame declares. "Itachi-san, how about you?" Itachi simply glares at Kisame before turning back to his book. Kisame shrugs his shoulders, apparently used to this kind of response from him.

"Ah, well, thank you Kisame-san. See you in a few minutes!" I tell him, quickly turning and heading back to my room to get my weapons. I put them on in record time, not wanting to be late. That would be a bad impression to give them. I'm downstairs again in less than a minute. I make my way to the training room. The training room is a huge room with high ceilings and padded blue floors. There's a few targets on one side of the room, but other than that it's mostly bare. The walls are stone, like it is for the rest of the hideout and there's three doors. One leads to the living room, another to the room where I was with Konan the other day, and the other I didn't know. A few of the members are already there, including Kisame and Itachi. Deidara, Hidan and Sasori are there as well. Leader-sama, Konan-chan, Tobi, Zetsu and Kakuzu are absent. I don't know if I'm happy or not that they might not show up. On one hand, that was fewer people to see me fail, but on the other that meant they likely didn't care about me.

I approach the group of Akatsuki, my sword hitting the side of my leg with each step. Deidara is about to greet me, as are other members are, but Tobi and Zetsu appear, Kakuzu following shortly after. Tobi runs to me, screaming, "AMAYA-CHAN! TOBI IS A GOOD BOY!"

I cringe slightly as his body collides with mine, jarring my teeth and making me bite my tongue so hard it bled. "Hi, Tobi the good boy. Please let go of me," I request, swallowing the blood in my mouth.

"But Amaya-chan! Tobi wants-" he begins, but he's cut off as Leader-sama arrives with Konan-chan.

"Tobi, detach yourself now. Amaya, step forward," Leader-sama commands, his face stoic. Tobi whimpers under his breath but lets go of me, crossing his arms over his chest in disappointment. I step forward, moving to stand in front of Leader-sama.

"Hai, Leader-sama?" I question. I was anxious to know who I would be fighting against. I hoped with everything in me it wasn't Kakuzu or Kisame. I didn't really want to fight any of them, though.

"You will be sparring with Hidan," he answers, and I turn to look at Hidan. What with the giant scythe he constantly carried around, I assumed that he was strong, and likely skilled at taijutsu. Still, even from these observations, I would definitely be using my kekkai genkai for this.

"I have to fight this bitch?" Hidan snarls, an unhappy look on his face. "She isn't even worthy of Jashin-sama!"

"Hidan! You'll spar with her," Leader-sama snaps, raising his voice. Hidan rolls his eyes and mutters under his breath about how he'll have to do an extra sacrifice or two to make this up to Jashin-sama.

"Alright, bitch, let's get this over with," Hidan says, stepping forward. I don't honor him with a response. Leader-sama leads us to the center of the training room. Leader-sama sets the ground rules (try not to destroy anything or kill each other) and then walks back to the others, letting us know he would be giving the 'go' signal momentarily. Hidan and I stand a few feet away. He smirks wickedly at me, leaning slightly forward in a tense position. I remain in what looks like a relaxed position, but my muscles are running tense with the knowledge of an impending battle.

"Go." The word is simple, but once it's uttered Hidan lets out an unearthly shriek of delight and he dashes forward, swinging his blade around to hit me. I immediately react, flipping backwards and twisting my body around in mid-air, dodging the blow. I withdraw my katana while airborne and as I land on my feet in a crouched position, like I'm kneeling on one knee, I bring it around to stop Hidan's scythe an inch away from my face. One of my hands is on the hilt and the other is on the actual blade of the katana. He smirks at me happily and pushes forward, putting more pressure on it. I keep my face impassive. Then I shove forward with all of my strength, forcing him to retreat back a few feet.

I'm on my feet again, and this time I take the offensive. I swing my katana in a smooth arc, simultaneously ducking under Hidan's jab with his scythe. We continue like this, moving fluidly and jabbing at the other for at least ten minutes. I imagine that to the others watching this it must look like an intricate dance, like everything was all planned out. I knew Hidan wasn't honestly fighting me-he was just toying with me. Just playing.

And then it grows serious. His movements become quicker, deadlier, slicing through the air with frightening accuracy. I dodge this way and that, trying to put space between us. To activate my kekkai genkai I had to perform a short series of hand signs. I take my opportunity as soon as I can, and I jump back several feet to land right in front of the others. I slide my katana in its sheath, forming the hand signs as fast as I could. Hidan is approaching me very, very quickly and swinging his scythe to make contact. I finish the last hand sign just in time and I jump again, my feet landing on his scythe. I perform a back flip, placing my hand on his shoulder and using it to gain more momentum. My skin makes contact with his, and my eyes flash an unearthly blue as I absorb all the information from him I needed.

So that was his first priority, his necessity- he needed to draw my blood. And he was immortal, so I didn't have to worry about killing him. I could hurt him like he was trying to hurt me. I smirk at him, now knowing exactly what to do. It wouldn't be easy to do, but I could still do it. I twist my body in mid-air, dodging his scythe and landing on my feet like a cat. I jump up in the air again, still ducking out of the path of the blade. I draw my katana again, using it to gain leverage as he leaps forward. We're doing the strange, fluid dance again- fighting and retreating, swinging and blocking.

He manages to get past my defenses almost twenty minutes in to the fight. I feel the steel blade of his scythe scrape my cheek, drawing forth a thin line of blood and then I'm back flipping to get away from the main damage. I'm mentally cussing and berating myself for my slip up- now this fight got twenty billion times harder because of the fact I messed up.

He licks the blood from the scythe and grins, like he's savoring it. He is, that I know. My kekkai genkai gave me that information. He lets the blood drip to the ground and he spreads it with his sandal, forming his religious symbol. His skin turns black and white, some bizarre skeletal form. "So, wench, you managed to hold up for a little fucking while. But you can't stand up to the almighty Jashin-sama! I'll have to do an extra sacrifice for you, bitch, 'cause you're not gonna count for a whole fucking person," he says, smirking at me. I'm watching him, trying to figure out his moves. If I was correct, I did have an option out, but only if he decided to play with me first and give me time to calculate my odds. I hoped he did, because I really don't want to die right now.

"So get to it," I snap, scowling at him.

"I'll be sure to make you suffer, bitch," he hisses. He withdraws a metal spear from within his cloak, smirking sadistically at me. Then, without a further word, he promptly stabs himself in the leg with it.

I hold back a hiss when an intense pain blossoms through my leg. I feel blood trickle down my thigh, making my skin alarmingly warm, and my free hand instinctively moves to put pressure against it, . _Shit, there's a lot of blood._ My eyes water from the agony and I bite out the word, "Fuck."

He laughs loudly, clearly gleeful. "Stupid bitch. Hurts you, doesn't it? It's not even over!" With those words, he dislodges the blade from his left leg and then stabs his right, howling with laughter. I fall to my knees, still glaring up at him. I don't have to look down to know that blood is seeping through both of my pant legs, staining the fabric dark crimson. My eyes widen slightly and I bite my lip so hard it bleeds to keep in my groan of agony. Kami, this guy is a sadomasochist (AN: see below!).

I breathe out slowly, trying to measure my breathing. Pain courses through my legs. Hidan watches my state and laughs loudly, withdrawing the blade. I look behind him to see the other members still watching. Konan and Deidara seem upset at my impending doom. Kisame looks upset, too, but he masks it better than them. Tobi is probably the most upset out of all of them, clinging to Zetsu and crying about me. Sasori, Zetsu, Itachi, Kakuzu and Leader-sama seem completely unconcerned. I look back to Hidan just in time to see him lodge the blade into his left shoulder. Searing pain spreads over my entire shoulder, and the blood trails down my arm.

Hidan is saying more, howling with laughter and happiness about my impending doom. I feel a little bit light headed, and I look back to the others. I search their faces, briefly observing them. When I catch Itachi's eyes, I hold them. A smile spreads on my face, turning into a full-blown grin at the brief look of confusion that flitted across his normally emotionless face. I turn back to Hidan, still grinning. Briefly I wonder what I must look like- here I am, kneeling on the ground covered in my own blood, smiling for what must seem like absolutely nothing. My mouth was full of blood from biting the inside of my cheek so hard, furthering my look. They all probably think I'm insane, smiling with a mouthful of blood like this. He frowns, asking me, "Hey, bitch, why are you smiling?"

I don't answer. Instead, I coil my muscles beneath me and, with all the power I can summon, I push my weakened body forward and I collide with Hidan. I make sure to knock him out of the symbol, dragging my katana in the ground to break the lines and dispel it. He's shocked, enough his guard is down, so I take the opportunity and bring my katana forward to strike him.

I bury the blade straight through his heart, all the way to the hilt. I feel his blood spurt out, coating me with scarlet. He gasps and his skin reverts back to normal. He slumps forward onto me, and I push him off of my katana with my foot. His body falls in a heap to the ground, and then Leader-sama's there, declaring the fight officially over. Deidara and Konan are with me in an instant, observing my wound and asking me how I did it.

"Kekkai genkai," I shrug weakly, immediately regretting it after the pain of my stab wound courses through my body, "All I have to do is make a few hand signs to activate it, make direct contact with whatever my target is, and then I automatically absorb all desired information. In this case, it was Hidan. I can control what sort of information I want from someone. I discovered what Hidan's fighting style and abilities were and then I utilized that information. It's pretty useful."

"Wow," Deidara says, "It sounds like it. Here, Konan-chan, will you help me get her to the medical facility so Kakuzu can patch her up?"

"Hai," Konan says, and they both help me stand, supporting my weight and helping me hobble to the unidentified door. That would be the medical facility, if my assumptions are correct. They help me get there, being patient with me. I had never dealt with injuries like this before. By the time we reach the door, Kakuzu had already passed by us carrying Hidan, who was protesting and cursing Kakuzu out, swearing he didn't need any help.

When we get in there, Kakuzu is in the middle of sewing the hole my katana caused in Hidan's chest. His eyes flicker over to us, but he continues fixing Hidan up. "Have her sit down," he comments, moving the threaded needle in and out. Hidan seems bored by this, like he's been through this before. He probably has. Deidara and Konan set me down on a cot, and I take the opportunity to look around. The medical facility is a bit small. There's three cots against the wall, and wooden cabinets lining the opposite wall. There's what looks like an operating table and some expensive machinery, plus a table in the corner. Aside from those things, there's nothing else.

Konan and Deidara leave a few minutes later, after assurances from me that I'll be okay by myself. They leave after telling me goodbye and letting me know they'll be back later to check up on me. The three of us, Kakuzu, Hidan and I, sit in silence for a few minutes. Kakuzu finishes sewing Hidan up and after cleaning the wound off, he makes his excuses about he'll 'be back soon' and he exits the room, leaving me with Hidan. Hidan's silent for a few moments before speaking up.

"Hey, whore," he snaps, "You're still not fucking good enough for Jashin-sama or anything, but you're not as fucking retarded as I thought you were."

My eyes meet his amethyst gaze. "Are you trying to tell me that I've gained your respect or something?" I ask, confused. I haven't know Hidan for long but I know this wasn't something he would normally say.

"Fuck no! You're still stupid, you heathen!" He defends. I raise an eyebrow.

"Ah, sure, if it helps you sleep at night," I tell him, biting back a chuckle. Something tells me he wouldn't hesitate to kill me if I laughed right now. Looking at his furious face, that feeling was correct.

He begins to say something else, but Kakuzu comes back and begins working on him again, telling him to shut up. Hidan still complains to no end, of course, but he chooses not to say anything else to me. Soon enough, Kakuzu finishes wrapping Hidan's chest with gauze and sends him out, moving to examine my wounds. After a brief glance at them he sighs soundlessly and goes to get the supplies to sew it all up. I feel a little bit annoyed. I had never gotten stitches before, so I was nervous about it. I had a pretty high tolerance to pain, or at least to hiding it.

Thirty grueling minutes later and he's finally finished. He cleans them, wraps them up and warns me not to do more than I had to for a few days until the wounds closed. I told him I would try to follow his advice and then I hobbled out, gritting my teeth the whole time. I pass through the living room and head up to my own room. I needed to change clothes and then find Deidara and Konan to let them know I was fine. And then maybe finally eat, because it felt like I was going to starve if I didn't soon. Then after that I needed to completely read the mission scroll, give it to Kakuzu or Hidan, and paint my toe nails. Then I'd get some sleep.

So far, it seemed like my stay at the Akatsuki would be excruciatingly long.

~INAF~

TADA.

Done. Please comment/vote/all that:D The pairings are still to be determined. I'd appreciate some opinions on what you guys would like to read, if you could. The options are Sasori, Itachi and maybe Deidara. Anyway, thanks for reading kiddies~~ I hope you enjoyed. Sorry about the lack of updates for TMK.

sadomasochist- one who is both a sadist and a masochist. a sadist is one who takes pleasure, sexual or otherwise, from causing pain to others, and a masochist is one who takes pleasure, sexual or otherwise, from being abused or having pain inflicted upon them.

A chapter of TMK should be up soon:D


	5. Chapter 3 The Ring

Hey, Hi, Hello.

Welcome to the third chapter. Please enjoy this:D I should probably be writing more than I am, but I'm just getting writer's block for this. I feel horrible, too, because I pretty much forced this entire chapter because I felt this needed an upload but I couldn't write T.T And I think this chap pretty much sucks. Anyway, the song is Dreams by The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. And, at the end, I've gone through and created a little list-thing for the ages of all characters in the story so far, just so you know(:

Here is a special note regarding part of the inspiration for this story:

I saw this comment on Youtube, for a video tribute to Kakuzu: 'man, kakuzu didnt deserve to die i mean okay he was old but come on they could have resened with him why do the bad guys never get a chance, but sasugay gets chances and hes practicly a main antagonist ¬¬' And this made such amazing, perfect sense to me. Why don't the bad guys get a chance to fix themselves, to redeem themselves? This is what inspired a main part of the storyline for 'Indebted'. Yeah, I realize it's a fanfic but it's my way of giving those bad guys (Kakuzu, Hidan, Sasori, Deidara, Kisame, Itachi, Nagato/Pein, Konan and maybe even Zetsu, in this case) a chance. To whomever posted that comment, thank you. I didn't get your username, but it really made me think.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto. Like, seriously.  
WARNINGS: Attack of the cute, lol(: seriously adorable. And a movie (that they wouldn't have but oh well).

**Anything in bold is important or with emphasis.**  
_If in mid-sentence or speech, italics are something with emphasis._  
_This is what Amaya's thoughts look like.  
'This is what song lyrics look like.' _

Begin.

~INAF~

_'So many times we're told to hold our tongues,_  
_Nobody wants the truth._ _  
This fire's burning out of our control,_  
_But we didn't light the fuse.' _

~INAF~

_ Just a little bit further..._

I was painting my last toe nail when a knock on my door sounds. I sigh silently and put the brush back in the bottle, twisting to ensure it closed correctly. I rise from my bed and go to the answer the door. It's Kakuzu, holding what looks like my cloak. He shoves it roughly into my arms and says, "There has been a change of plans. You are to go on the mission to Taki with Sasori and Deidara instead of myself and Hidan. Give the scroll to them."

With that he turns on his heel and walks swiftly down the hallway, heading down the stairs into the living room. I shrug my shoulders and head back into my room, kicking the door shut with my foot. I put the cloak on top of my dresser and scoop up the bottle of nail polish. I just had a little sliver of unpainted nail on my pinkie toe left to do, then I would read the mission scroll and give it to Deidara or Sasori. Whoever I found first.

A minute later and I'm finished with painting my toe nails, so I turn my attention to the mission scroll. I scan it, committing the words to memory. While Leader-sama told me that it was a mission to capture the Shichibi, the scroll said it was mainly a reconnaissance mission, and to capture Shichibi if we could. We left tomorrow morning, so I needed to give them scroll soon so they would have time to prepare. I form hand signs with practiced ease, and press my hand to the scroll. My eyes flash an unearthly blue, the same as before and I shake my hand out, blinking my eyes rapidly. One more hand sign and I dispel the effect.

I rise from my place on the bed. Now I had memorized the entire scroll. I needed to hand it over to Deidara or Sasori. I step from the room and walk carefully. My stitches were hyper sensitive and it was hard not to wince with every movement, no matter how miniscule. I had already taken some numbing meds but that was only a few minutes ago and they hadn't taken affect yet.

In the living room I find Deidara, Kisame, Itachi, Hidan, Kakuzu and Konan. I walk straight to Deidara, keeping the limp out of my step as much as I can. "Here. Leader-sama gave you, Sasori and me the mission to go to Taki. We leave tomorrow," I explain.

He nods and smiles, taking the scroll from me. He puts it on the ground next to his foot. "Thanks, Amaya-chan!"

I smile back at him. He was so nice to me, and I really appreciated it. "No problem, Dei-kun!"

"We're about to watch a movie, yeah. Do you wanna watch it too, hm?" He asks.

"Yeah," I answer. He scoots over and I sit next to him, crammed in between him and Kisame. I try not to lean too far into either of them, just stay in the middle, but Kisame is so muscled that I'm pushed into Deidara. Our legs were already touching, but now my arm hangs over onto his lap and his hand rests just above my knee. He seems oblivious to my embarrassment at being so close and he grins at me. "Uh, what movie are we watching?"

"The Ring, un!" He exclaims, grinning as Itachi presses play on the remote. My face turns ashen as the lights flicker off, leaving us with only the glowing light of the television, and the movie starts.

~INAF~

I don't scream. I don't say a word or make a single sound. I only cling to Deidara.

The movie begins. The two teenage girls play around, playing a joke and talking about some tape. It seemed normal so far, but I sensed it would get scary, and soon. I subconsciously inch just a little bit closer to Deidara when the TV flickers on. The girl stops what she was doing, scared, and goes into the living room. She turns the TV off and begins to leave. The TV turns on again and she unplugs it. After closing the refridgerator that opened mysteriously, she goes back upstairs only to discover water on the floor. Now terrified, she opens the door handle to her friend's bedroom. Her face has a look of horror, you hear eerie sounds (something like a scream) and then she's dead as a series of what seems like random images flash across the screen.

At this point I've shrunk into Deidara's form. I link my arms around one of his and hide part of my face behind his shoulder, only keeping enough exposed to be able to see the screen. I feel him look at me like he's confused why I'm doing this, but he soon turns back to the movie and keeps watching it.

By the time the main character has found out about the girl in the tape I'm tired of trying to pretend like I'm not absolutely terrified. Deidara has figured out that I'm scared. He holds my hand and gives it a gentle squeeze. I glance up at him, and he gives me a small, comforting smile and focuses back on the movie. I relax into him and try to watch the movie, too. It's not that easy to focus, because his hand is warm in mine and I feel comforted by his actions. The way he smiled at my replays in my mind, over and over and over and over again.

The movie ends and I disentangle myself from Deidara as the lights turn back on. I stand quickly, willing away the flush on my cheeks. Deidara rises too, stretching out his muscles. My cheeks flush even more at the thought of how comforted and safe I felt when he held my hand through out the movie. He smiles at me again and I say, "Thank you, Deidara-kun."

He shrugs his shoulders and chuckle. "Anytime, Amaya-chan, un! Anyway, I gotta go read the mission scroll, hm. See you later, yeah!"

I wave at him as he walks away, too busy analyzing what he said as he walks away. I pretty much float up to my room, his words echoing throughout my brain. _Anytime. Anytime. Anytime._ What did he mean by that? In a friendly way, or something else? I was sure he meant it in a friendly way. He was only a little bit older than me, maybe a year or so. But that didn't mean a whole lot, especially not that he liked me. I could hope, though.

I spend the next hour or so training with my katana. I work on making my movements faster, sharper. I move viciously, shredding through the practice dummies and dropping them to the floor in pieces. I grow tired quickly, and I feel my stitches straining as I continue my training. At some point during my training Kisame wanders in and watches me. He doesn't say a word, just leans against the wall and observes my movements. About twenty minutes after his arrival I feel my body growing tired and my stitches straining with the movement. I'm about to just give up with training when he finally speaks.

"You're distracted."

My gaze flickes over to meet his as I send myself into another series of exercises, slashing and stabbing with my katana. I remain silent momentarily before responding with, "That obvious?" He stands from where he had been leaning and approaches me, eyes still taking in my movements. He only stops when he stands a mere foot away.

"Yeah," he chuckles, "It is. If you took your distraction and manipulated it the right way you could work it to your advantage. I can tell you're trying to, but you're not doing it correctly. Who taught you?"

I stop moving completely and look at him, maintaining eye contact. "Taught myself. I'm probably the only person in the entire village of Taki who uses a blade. All I've learned about the different forms and techniques I saw in books or movies or other nins on the battlefield. Then I went home and practiced it as much as I could. As you can see, I didn't do too well."

"Ah, I see. You're very good at your form and going through the motions, but you have room for improvement. Like your speed and stamina. You have a lot of potential," he tells me.

"And do you have any recommendations as to how I improve these things?"

"You leave tomorrow, right?" he asks.

I nod. "Yeah. Early."

"Okay. When you get back, come see me. I should be back from my mission then," he says. I nod and sheathe my katana. After a brief goodbye, I leave. It was probably around three or so in the afternoon, and I needed to not only get enough painkillers to last my mission but also to rest up some. It would be a very long day tomorrow.

And it seemed like I would be thinking that about every day I would have in the Akatsuki.

~INAF~

And the next chapter is the mission. Just to let you know right now, this is one of the worst things I've ever written): I just...eh. This was so forced. And not good at all.

Anyway, enough with my pity party. If you look below, you will see the promised list of ages. Please let me know if you see any inconsitencies. Thanks for reading:D

Naruto/Sasuke/Sakura- 12  
Amaya- 14  
Deidara- 15 to 16  
Sasori- 30 to 31  
Kisame- 28 to 29  
Itachi- 17 to 18  
Kakuzu- 86  
Tobi, Zetsu, Hidan, Konan, Pein- unknown


	6. Chapter 4 The Beginning

Hey, Hi, Hello.

Welcome to chapter four of Indebted. I hope you enjoy it:D please review! It's gotten excruciatingly difficult for me to write any of my actual multi-chapter fics, so hopefully this is good enough. Song is 'Disenchanted' by My Chemical Romance. Not because it fits this chapter, but because certain parts describe Amaya and parts of the story. The song is about growing up thinking one thing, and then realizing it was all wrong and not what you thought that it was.

Note- the reason Amaya refers to most of the Akatsuki as '-sama' is because she recognizes that they have more power than her. The only people she doesn't/normally won't refer to as '-sama' is Tobi (who she calls Tobi The Good Boy) and Deidara (any variant of his name (Deidara, Dei, Deidei, stuff like that) plus '-kun', because she sees them as friends). Also, when she apologizes to Sasori, she uses the phrase 'moushiwake arimasen'. This is a very formal apology, used when apologizing to superiors.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Naruto! Or the picture or song.  
WARNINGS: A bit of blood.

**Anything in bold is important or with emphasis.**  
_If in mid-sentence or speech, italics are something with emphasis._  
_This is what Amaya's thoughts look like. _  
_'This is what song lyrics look like.' _

~INAF~

_'And when the lights all went out  
we watched our lives on the screen.  
I hate the ending myself,  
but it started with an alright scene.' _

~INAF~

I have trouble getting up in the morning.

I was exhausted. It was hard for me to find a comfortable position, because it seemed no matter how I laid my stitches ached with pain. That resulted in me getting little sleep, and when I woke up at four thirty the next morning hearing Hidan screaming at Deidara about eating the last of the waffles, I easily slip into a tired, foul mood. I pull a fishnet top over my black tank top and yank on my pants. Yes, I slept in a tank top and underwear. No, I do not think this is weird.

I pass by Kakuzu on my way downstairs. He doesn't say anything to me, and I don't say anything to him. I could detect his mood easily enough- similar to mine. Annoyed at the ridiculously early hour to be hearing all the screaming and to be going out on some ridiculous mission. And neither of us wanted to converse with anybody, or even see them. It seemed there was a strange sort of understanding between us.

In the kitchen, Hidan and Deidara are still arguing with each other. I ignore both of them and go to the fridge, pulling out a jug of orange juice. I put that on the counter and move next to Deidara, who is standing directly in front of the cabinet holding the cups, and therefore blocking my way. When he shows no sign of moving, too busy arguing with Hidan, I sigh and decide to just go around him.

Which is how I ended up pulling myself up on the counter, essentially using Deidara as a climbing tool. I put one hand on either shoulder and push down, lifting my body up and swinging my feet onto the counter. I pour chakra into my feet to keep them cemented into place, and I release my hold on one of his shoulders. I grip the bottom edge of the cabinet and let go with the other hand, pulling myself upright. Ignoring Deidara's and Hidan's surprised looks, I carefully open the cabinet with the cups and grab one, maneuvering my body so the cabinet's door didn't hit me. I close it behind me and then jump off of the counter. I land like a cat on the floor.

"You could have just asked me to move, yeah," Deidara says, giving me a look. I almost roll my eyes at this.

"You wouldn't have heard me," I respond, shrugging my shoulders. I put the cup on the counter and spare a glance at Hidan, who's staring at me with an eyebrow raised. "What?" I ask him.

"You're fuckin' strange, little bitch," he tells me, eying me carefully.

"Oh, yeah," I comment sarcastically, unscrewing the cap on the orange juice and upturning the bottle over the cup, "'Cause everyone else here is so average." At that moment, Sasori walks in the kitchen, his messy red hair in disarray as always. He eyes me with a look of contempt, then gives Deidara the same look.

"Brats, we will be leaving in fifteen minutes," he tells us. Deidara rolls his eyes and replies with something along the lines of 'Okay, Danna' and I just nod, now drinking my orange juice. With one more glare, Sasori turns on his heel and leaves the room. I begin chugging down my orange juice. I'd have just enough time to rush through a shower before we left and grab some food, maybe toast or something. I already had all of my things packed, so it would be easy to just grab them and go.

~INAF~

Thirteen minutes finds me walking casually down the stairs, fully dressed, cloak and all. My katana is strapped to my back, over my cloak, and my weapons pouches carefully equipped. Sasori is already downstairs, too, and I stand a comfortable distance (about three feet) from him. He doesn't say anything, and neither do I. It wasn't the same as it was with Kakuzu. This silence wasn't because of our moods (his was clearly foul, not completely unlike mine) but more of because there was no need to talk. What would we have talked about, anyway? The weather? Somehow, I don't believe that conversation would really work out.

'Hey, so how's the weather Sasori-sama? Good, I hope.'

'...'

'Uh, so I'll take that as an affirmative. Yeah, so...um...no rain?'

'...'

No. Just, just no.

Kakuzu and Hidan pass us on their way out. Hidan's complaining to Kakuzu, something about how they'd 'better be staying in a Jashin-damned inn this time, you heathen fucker'. Kakuzu rolls his eyes at this, telling Hidan to shut his mouth. They leave the base, still bickering as they disappear down the stone hallway to the ladder leading outside. Another minute passes and I can almost feel the frustration rolling off of Sasori in near-tangible waves. I wonder where Deidara is, briefly, and if Sasori's going to go get him or not. And, if he doesn't, should I go after him or-

"Sorry Danna, sorry Amaya-chan!" Deidara chirps, bounding down the stairs. He has a smile as bright as sunshine on his face. I feel like face palming at his unnecessary cheer, as I'm sure Sasori does. Oh well. I guess he's a morning person.

"Let's go, brats," Sasori says, and we head out of the base. We remain quiet as we walk through the hallways. I make sure to memorize the path from the exit to the entrance of the main base, so if I ever was alone I would be able to reach either the metal slab to get into the base or the ladder leading to the surface. I knew I wouldn't always be going on missions with others, because I would likely be able to be used elsewhere. For example, if Leader-sama decided there was only two people, partners, needed for a mission and there was a mission that needed one, I would probably be sent on it because I didn't have an actual partner. I guess I was okay with that, though I hoped I wouldn't constantly be sent out on missions.

The sky is completely black. At the furthest edge, there is a sliver of a silvery gray. Dawn was beginning to settle in. I look up at the sky, straight above me. There were so many stars in the sky, it took my breath away. Back in Taki, you couldn't see the sky unless you were on top of the trees. The most you'd be able to view from the bottom was a brief flash, a little twinkle of a star. Not much. I feel a little homesick at seeing the sky, since I was so used to seeing the canopy of trees before me.

I let out a little sigh. Then I straighten out, trying to keep my eyes from watering. I was going back to Taki. I could see my home one last time. I'd be in the familiar forest, sliding through the trees and dodging the ever present puddles. I would see the great tree in the center of the village, the sparkling water that surrounded it. I would touch the tree one last time, feel the absolute sense of being complete just by touching the tree.

Let me explain. The villagers of Taki, especially the ninja, _revere _the tree in the center. If brought up in Taki, one seems to develop a bond with it. It was more than just a tree- it was what defined the village. It had a chakra of its own, massive and beyond what a human alone could possess. Somewhat comparable to the chakra supply and depth of the greatest, biggest tailed beast. The tree was given the utmost respect. I could feel the bond in my heart, amd it ached just knowing I would rarely be around it anymore.

We begin the slow walk to Taki after Sasori climbs into Hiruko. There's no conversation or anything of much interest for the first few hours. I watch the climate around me change from the skeletal trees to rocky land. A few more hours pass and we're still surrounded by rocky land. Another three hours pass and I feel the silence really begin to settle in. I wonder how it could be so completely silent. The only noises are that of the slow scraping of Hiruko's movements and rhythmic breathing. No animals moving about, no running water, no wildlife.

It's nearly three o'clock when the silence is finally, mercifully broken. Deidara spots a small cave, no more than six feet long, and he asks Sasori if we could stop there to eat something because he was hungry. Sasori, realizing he wouldn't get any silence back if he denied Deidara, begrudgingly said yes. Deidara cheers in light and races off to the little cave, leaving both Sasori and I to shake our heads in wonder. We follow after him, though at a much calmer pace.

Deidara is digging food out from one of his pouches. I remove my katana and slip my cloak off, settling down against one of the cave walls. After folding my cloak up and laying my katana across it, I reach into my hip pouch and withdraw a bottle of water and a few riceballs. Sasori gets out of Hiruko and settles down, reaching in his own pack for something.

"Hey, Amaya-chan, un," Deidara says, speaking through a mouthful of food, "are you happy, yeah, we're going to Taki?"

I glance at him. "Have either of you been around Taki for more than a few hours, or know much about it?" Deidara shakes his head vigorously, and after a glare and a slight jerk of his head from Sasori, I continue, "Then this won't be too easy to understand. It's...all the colors, the noises, the plants, the animals, it becomes a part of you. The tree in the center holds the chakra of anyone who has ever come in contact with it. You grow a bond with it. The tree is treated with the utmost respect. I'm going to assume you both felt some measure of...loss, when you first left your villages, knowing you probably wouldn't be back again. Take that feeling of loss, multiply it by a hundred, and maybe you'll come close. So, yes, I am extremely happy."

"You're right," Deidara said, shrugging and leaning back. "I don't understand very well."

"Ask Kakuzu-sama. He might be able to describe it better," I tell him, unscrewing the cap on my canteen of water. The sky-blue paint on it was chipped, showing bits of the gray of the metal. In Taki, I was a jonin. All jonins were given a full set of weapons, all in the standard color of Taki's flak jackets. Sky blue.

"I have another question, hm," Deidara says. After I nod, he asks, "What would happen if the tree was destroyed, yeah, like cut down or blown up?"

I halt all movements, eyes going wide. I feel my chest tighten at the thought. It wasn't pleasant, thinking that someone might destroy it. I knew, one day far into the future, that it would eventually just not be there. I didn't want to be alive for that. "W-what? Just...g-gone? Destroyed?"

He's oblivious to my distress. Sasori looks almost impassive, though I can spot the annoyance in his eyes. Deidara goes on, taking a bite of his food in between, "Yeah, un. Like if Taki was invaded or something, hm, and the enemies burned the tree down."

I close my eyes, willing the thoughts of some brutes coming into my village, my home, and destroying the tree. One particular image stayed in my mind- bound, broken, beaten Taki villagers- civilians and ninja alike- being forced to watch as enemy nins took torches and lit the tree on fire. The ashes rained down, dusting the villagers as they were forced to watch the very symbol of their village burn. The smell of burning wood filled the air and smoke poured from the tree. Tears streaked down all the faces of those who watched the sight. Nobody would claim the tears were from the acrid smell or the way the smoke stung their eyes. No, the heart of everyone in the village would break from the sight.

I shake my head, moving my hands to rub my eyes and cover my face. I can tell Deidara is worried about me, for he moves to my side. "Amaya-chan, un? Listen, I'm sorry. I didn't-"

I cut him off. My voice is muffled. "Firstly, Takigakure has never been successfully invaded. Secondly, I refuse to accept that as a possibility. Anybody with any form of loyalty to Taki or connection to that tree would surely rather every bone in their body shattered to dust before allowing anything like that to happen. And, thirdly, it's okay." I lift my head from my hands.

Deidara is crouched in front of me, clinging to my arm. His visible eye is wide with concern. He smiles softly at me before releasing my arm and bouncing back to his food. "Good, Amaya-chan!" He chirp.

"I suppose so," I answer, then I turn to Sasori. He's visibly annoyed, and I can only assume that it was my inability to control my emotion in regards to Deidara's question. "Sasori-sama, moushiwake arimasen. I apologize sincerely for my brief lapse of control. I can assure you that it will not happen again."

He grunts and rolls his eyes. "Whatever, brat. It'd better not. And you two better hurry up and finish. We've spent too much time here. We leave in three minutes."

"Hai, Sasori-sama," I tell him, proceeding to knock back my water and drink a few mouthfuls. I swallow and begin nibbling on my riceball, ignoring Deidara arguing with Sasori. After a few moments, Sasori climbs back into Hiruko. I sigh silently and stand, finishing my riceball and putting the cap back on my canteen. Time to start walking again.

~INAF~

I feel the nerves really begin to set in on the fifth day. We were in the forest now, and Sasori had been forced to leave Hiruko. There was no clear path into Taki, at least not one we'd be going through, so he had to get out. I was leading the way now, because I was most familiar with the land. I managed to keep my expression carefully impassive, if only for the fact I promised Sasori I wouldn't loose control of my emotions again.

Inside, though, I was grinning. I got to come home, if only for a moment. I would be able to see the tree, maybe even touch it if I got lucky enough. I duck under a tree branch, working to keep my pace steady. A branch appears before me, directly in front of my path. I wouldn't be able to dodge it without moving either up or down, not with the mere seconds I had. So I took the down option, dropping down and grabbing a moss covered tree branch with both hands. I swing myself up and around, bypassing the obstacle completely. I don't pause to see if Sasori or Deidara were still behind me. They were, I knew.

"It's about another hour before we get really close. I'll tell you when," I call back, looking over my shoudler at them. Deidara says something back along the lines of 'okay, Amaya-chan', and Sasori merely rolls his eyes. I turn to the front again. Almost there.

~INAF~

DONE!

Yay:D sorry if it sucks. I'm pretty sure it does. Well, whatever:P please review for this! Thank you!


	7. Chapter 5 Puppet

Hey, Hi, Hello.

Welcome to chapter five of Indebted, titled 'Here We Go Again'. Partly in Deidara's POV. Please enjoy/comment/vote! Song is 'Falling' by Obsidia. It's from an anime, a really good one at that. This will probably be the last update for about two weeks, unless I miraculously gain some form of inspiration. I've been so stressed out ):

DISCLAIMER: I claim no ownership.  
WARNINGS: Sneaky Amaya.

**Anything in bold is important or with emphasis.**  
_If in mid-sentence or speech, italics are something with emphasis._  
_This is what Amaya's thoughts look like. _  
_'This is what song lyrics look like.' _

~INAF~

_'I fall (I fall)  
I fall (I fall)  
I fall (I fall)  
...falter.'_

~INAF~

Inhale. Exhale. A smooth, silent step forward. Forcing myself not to run straight to the tree when it enters my line of vision. Another few steps, edging into the city easily. Feeling Deidara and Sasori pause behind me as they too see the great tree. A slow, satisfied smirk. Another step. Then moving, faster than lightning, towards the closest form of suitable cover.

I'm crouched against the side of a tree. Deidara and Sasori hover somewhere just beyond the tree line. I would be sneaking in first to do some low-key observation. If everything was clear, I would return and we would enter together. But for now, it's just me. Without a glance back, I smoothly continue my path into the city.

Chakra concealment? Check. Henge? Check. Plan for when things go wrong, because they always do? Check. I was ready to do this. My scars were almost completely healed. There was only the smallest twinge of discomfort if I moved a strange way. And I could feel the chakra thrumming through my veins, ready to be used. I suppress it carefully until it would be easily mistaken for a civilian's level. Civilians had chakra, too, but it was much more subdued than that of a ninja.

I step out onto the street, letting a small smile onto my face. The traditional street vendors were set up, lining the streets. I was in the marketplace. It was loud, busy, and the perfect place to do observation. I immerse myself in the crowd. There were so many bright, happy colors. It was familiar. As I pass a bucket of water- the street vendors kept buckets around just in case there was a leak in the roof or something (which happened often, considering it rained a lot here)- I glance at my reflection. Long brown hair, tied up into a bun. It was a popular style amongst the civilians here. And my eyes were a normal brown, too- somewhere in between chocolate and mud.

I walk through the marketplace, bartering and haggling with the vendors. I also listened in on the conversations of those around me. Apparently, the ninja were not aware I would ever be coming back to Taki. That was good- then they wouldn't be expecting me. After about an hour of simply blending into the crowd, I make the decision that it was safe to bring forth Deidara and Sasori.

About fifteen minutes later I ease out of Taki and into the forest. Releasing the henge, I quickly locate Deidara and Sasori. They had a genjutsu set around their camp, but when they come to the realization I've come back they release it.

"Alright, everything seems pretty normal. I heard a few nin speaking of my disappearance. As far as the village and its people are concerned, I will not be returning. I believe it would be best for us to begin our observation in the marketplace, and then if that goes well move to the tree, the village center. What I know of Fu, the jinchuuriki of Nanabi, is that she is often found at the tree. So if we desire to observe her directly, we would likely find her there. And, finally, the awareness of the Akatsuki and its purposes here is non-existent," I finish, raising one finger for each point made. When I'm done, I drop my arms at my sides and observe their faces.

"Okay, gakis. Henge and supress your chakra," Sasori says. He stands from where he had been sitting- a moss-covered log- and forms rapid hand signs. For the briefest second, it seems like nothing has happened, but then there's a flash and in Sasori's place stands another person. Black hair, brown eyes. Standard clothes. I nod, turning to Deidara. Dark brown hair, honey-amber eyes. Standard civilian clothing, likely based off of what Sasori was wearing. I nod again, digging my hand into my pack to remove money. Deidara gives me a confused look, so I explain.

"It is seen as strange if you go into the marketplace, where they sell all sorts of things, and you don't buy anything. Taking this into consideration, I am giving you some of my money so you can do so. Takigakure money is distinctive, and it's rare any foreign money is brought in," I tell them. After this explanation, they accept the money.

Five minutes later, after rechecking the henges and our chakra suppression, we slip into Taki. We go to the marketplace first. To seem more natural, we purchase food and sit out in front of the shop selling it. It was traditional Taki food, strips of meat covered in marinade and spice cooked over an open fire and then served with rice and vegetables. It was delicious and made my heart ache. Deidara seemed to really enjoy eating it, while Sasori seemed indifferent. I'm not surprised about their reactions.

We purchase a few more things- Deidara buys a woven pouch, and Sasori gets a set of fancy set of kunai. I buy a set of clear, glass vials. Deidara questions this, but I simply brush him off and continue leading them slowly through the marketplace, heading even closer into Taki's epicenter.

Three blocks away. Step, smile, pause to observe what the vendors were selling. It was my nature, and I had never noticed how long it could take to get from one point to another. That was probably because I was never moving about Taki under these circumstances. I had two S-class criminals with me, I was on the same team they were, and would soon be committing a crime that would solidify my status as a member of the Akatsuki and an S-class criminal. So this was it- my final goodbye to Takigakure. My home, the only place I've ever felt right in.

It becomes hard to breathe. My vision blurs at the edges, and I force myself to keep my composure. This was a mission. I was fighting to emotionally disconnect myself. One more block. The streets were much emptier now that we were away from the street vendors. There was only one person on the street right now- and that person was someone I knew very, very well. Painfully well. His name was Takahashi Nao; my former genin team mate.

_ Shit._ We were in definite trouble- he was amazing at reading and identifying chakra. And, if he were paying attention, he'd be able to see straight through the chakra suppression. Not just my chakra suppression, but Sasori and Deidara's as well. Essentially, we'd be in for a fight. I watch as he pauses slightly, eyes gliding over to us. Now I could really feel the panic settling in. My heartbeat was loud in my ears, making them ring. He doesn't look away. I needed to ensure a successful completion of my assigned mission.

"Aoi, Shin," I murmur quietly, using the codenames, "go on ahead to the tree. To the end of this street, make a right. I'll be there soon enough."

"Why?" Shin, or Sasori, asks. Deidara is frowning, ready to protest. They're both staring at me in concern. I wish they would just fucking go already.

"Need a moment to collect myself," I reply. I stop walking. I offer them a soft, fake smile. Trying not to cry. It was horrible what this had come to- getting ready to fight, and against someone who was more to me than a brother, someone I loved. After a slight pause, only a brief moment, the two seem to silently agree it was best to let me have my 'moment'. If only they knew what it was really for. Then they're leaving, heading down the street the way I pointed out.

And that feeling settles in again, the one I had felt so many times again- my fate was beginning to close in all around me, binding me in place. There was nothing I could do to stop this, nothing I could do to stop anything from happening. I was a simple tool, something to be used and then thrown away when I couldn't _be_ used anymore.

My companions disappear from sight. There's a stifling pause. I look to my feet, and Nao's eyes are focused on me. After I'm sure they're gone, out of earshot, I turn my gaze to meet his. His eyes seem sad. "Amaya," he whispers.

I smile tightly, releasing the henge. "Hai, Nao-kun. I just want to let you know, before all of this starts...none of this was my choice."

He saunters slowly across the street, cautious as ever. I flinch; this was the way he approached an enemy. So that's how he saw me? As an enemy? I shouldn't expect any different. I was a missing nin, after all. So why did it still hurt to see him look at me and treat me like this? "Amaya," he repeats, "...you know what I have to do."

I nod. "Yeah," I say, "I do. A fight to the death. I am a missing nin, and you an ever-faithful ninja loyal to Takigakure above anything else. I understand perfectly. Please. Do it."

"I fully expect you to fight back and die as an honorable ninja. Your name will even been put on the KIA monument," he says. He stretches a hand out and his callused fingers trace my skin, trailing over my face. I close my eyes and sigh. I want so badly to believe that none of this was happening. Not like this. Never like this. He drops his hand and I open my eyes. The illusion is shattered. "And we never do."

An almost eerie silence. None of the noises of the marketplace reached us. There was only our slow, steady breathing and the far off sound of the waterfall. Twilight was settling over the streets. I could feel the heartache already intensifying. I look back into his eyes- crystalline green. So familiar and close to my heart. I exhale slowly, and tell him the words I've wanted to tell him for the past three years. "I love you. I always have."

He shakes his head. "No, please..."

"I have to say it. I've loved you for the past three years. And I always will," I whisper almost desperately. I needed him to hear this.

"Maya...," he murmurs. His eyes begin to fill with tears. "I love you too."

I nod. "Thank you..."

He smiles at me. I feel warmth on my cheeks. I was crying. I close my eyes, exhale again, and then draw a kunai. Before he can blink, I shove the kunai directly through his stomach. He makes a strange 'oof' noise, and blood trickles from his mouth. After tossing the kunai to the ground I cradle him in my arms, slowly and gently easing the both of us to the ground. The tears pour over even more. His eyes begin to fade. I cry even harder. "I'm so sorry," I whisper. "I never wanted this..."

He manages a shaky, blood stained smile. "It's okay, Maya," he coughs. More blood pours from his mouth, draining down and onto my legs. Some of my tears drip down onto him, mixing in with the blood. I press one hand to his wound and cradle his head in my other arm.

"I wish I could take it all back...I'm sorry. So sorry. But I had to do it, you know I did. Just like you had to stay loyal. We all play our parts...like puppets. Ha, Sasori would probably approve of that..." And he's fading fast. I swallow again. I feel like I'm drowning in his blood and my tears. Drowning, drowning, drowning...and now he's gone. His eyes flutter closed and his body slackens. Dead. I swallow and take a shaky breath. I slide him off of my lap but keep looking at him. I needed to continue the mission. I needed to play my part out.

~TMK~

TA-DA. I hope it was worth the wait :3 I personally enjoyed it. Very emotional! Please review?


	8. Chapter 6 Anything Else (At All)

Hey, Hi, Hello.

Welcome to chapter six of 'Indebted'. I hope you enjoy it 3 took me a while to write. Please let me know what you think of it! The song is 'In Fate's Hands' by Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. The general feeling I get when listening to this song (almost chaotic, that's the only way I can describe it) fits the tone of this chapter.

**DISCLAIMER:** Insert witty disclaimer here.  
**WARNINGS: ** Angst. You know, the normal. Seriously, kiddies- one day, I will write something humorous and completely lacking in any plot. Just you wait. For now, my attempts will fail T/.\T perhaps there will be a lighter chapter after this? Maybe. Hopefully. Anyway, for the rest of the warnings- a somewhat gory description, cuss words, blood, blah blah blah.

**Anything in bold is important or with emphasis.**  
_If in mid-sentence or speech, italics are something with emphasis._  
_This is what Amaya's thoughts look like. _  
_'This is what song lyrics look like.' _

~INAF~

_'Shake it, break it._  
_Get off your feet._  
_Come dance with me, _  
_and don't you fake it._  
_Shake it, break it._  
_Get off your feet._  
_Get close to me,_  
_and don't you fake it.'_

~INAF~

Shaking, coated-in-blood fingers unclasp the stopper of a clear glass vial. Those fingers are mine. My heart is pounding rapidly in my chest, thundering within its cage. The front of my cloak is covered in blood. Nao's. I kneel next to his still-warm body and press the opening of the vial to the wound. It fills up, some of it bubbling over and smearing on the sides of the glass. I put the stopper in and put it into my pouch, ignoring the blood.

I observe his face for the slightest moment. It seemed peaceful, almost otherworldly in death. I press a chaste kiss to his cheek and steady my hand enough to close his eyelids. "Aishiteru. Sumimasen," I murmur. And then I'm standing, my mind already working to compartmentalize this situation and keep the pain at bay until it was safe to fall apart. I leave the kunai and his body in the red-shining grass, reaching out and pulling a white sheet from the laundry line of the house who's yard I was standing in front of. I drape it over his body and, using the blood on my fingers, draw a single kanji onto the cotton fabric.

Honor. What he deserves, and easily the largest show of respect and affection I could give him now. When a Taki ninja died honorably, their grave was covered in a silk sheet, the kanji for 'honor' emblazoned on the front in green. I used a cotton sheet and blood, but it was the best I could do under the given circumstance.

And it was now time to go. I had been away from Sasori and Deidara for nearly fifteen minutes, and they would be wondering about me and my whereabouts by now. I stand and move away from him as fast as I could. I reach Sasori and Deidara quickly, finding them standing in an alleyway with their henges still up. "I am back," I inform them.

They turn to look at me, completely unsurprised at my sudden appearance. Upon seeing I released the henge, was covered in blood and my chakra was haphazardly suppressed, Deidara raises an eyebrow. "What happened, hm?"

"I killed someone in order to ensure our cover is maintained for a bit longer. However, we need to be out of the city and at least a couple of miles away within the next twenty minutes. The body will be found soon," I reply.

"Un, who was it?" He asks, pressing even further.

"Does it matter? He's dead. His body is poorly concealed. Let's go get a look at the Nanabi and leave," I say. Deidara looks a bit frustrated with my response. Sasori merely rolls his eyes and releases his henge, jumping up onto the roof. Deidara and I follow without another word.

We head out, increasing our pace until we reach the tree. Sasori and Deidara pause in shock at the sight, but I barrel on forward until I reach the trunk. I press a hand to the bark and let my eyes flutter closed, using my free hand to extract an empty vial. I had six vials in total, all either filled or about to be. I search for a specific chakra signature, digging around until I find it. Nao's chakra is vibrant, still powerful. I draw it out carefully, until there's a glowing mass of chakra just smaller than a tennis ball swirling in the palm of my now-removed hand. I direct this chakra into the vial. Then, moving as fast as I could but still being careful I fill the remaining four up. Two with the dirt surrounding the base of the tree, the other two with warm water from the miniature lake surrounding the entire tree itself, leaving it almost as an island.

I turn back to Sasori and Deidara. The Nanabi is no where in sight, but we can easily feel her chakra. She was up above us, hiding in the branches. Kunai rain down from above, scattering around. I jump this way and that, drawing my katana out to help deflect them. When they stop she jumps down, three senbon in hand. Her eyes widen almost imperceptibly as she sees the three of us, and realizes it's going to be extremely hard to fight against all of us. Sasori has retreated into Hiruko, presumably while I was filling the vials.

I observe the scene around me, analyzing my surroundings and determining what my options were. Fu's back was to the tree. Wind stirred through the clearing, leaves fluttering and skipping across the ground, some of them catching on the kunai buried in the ground. Her green hair, not quite the same shade of green as the tree's leaves, shifted with the direction of the wind. Orange eyes burned into mine, an expression of defiance clear. I raise an eyebrow at this. She knew she could die here, and she still stood up. That was admirable. And don't think that I have anything against her- she was a good person and a great ninja, and I really didn't want to do this. But I just so happened to be a member of the Akatsuki, and she happened to be a jinchuriki. So I had to. We had to have this conflict of interests, because that was the way things were. I didn't have a choice, and neither did she.

I withdraw my katana and take note of the time. It had been an entire five minutes already. We could only stay a few minutes more before we needed to start heading out. At full speed, it would take ten to fifteen minutes to get out and a proper distance away from the city if we didn't want to be heavily pursued. I could feel the adrenaline coursing through me, making me feel something between being nervous, dreading the impending fight and an almost sickening excitement.

We move at the same time, only seconds after she landed and I drew my katana. I jump forward and she moves away, her hands forming rapid hand signs. She punches the ground and a small crater forms, a shockwave sent through out a ten-yard radius. I glance briefly behind me as I jump into the air, gathering my legs beneath me, to avoid the blow. Three Taki nin, all jonin-level, have arrived on scene, and Deidara and Sasori are fighting against them now. Shit. We needed to leave soon. I land on my feet like a cat, my head already swiveling around to keep my eyes on Fu. She exhales and a bright, glittering substance comes forth. So this was her special ability. I had heard about it before, but never witnessed it. The remaining sunlight glinted off of it, filling the clearing with light and making it impossible for me to see.

"Kuso!" I hiss, shielding my eyes with my free hand. I crouch down, low to the ground, with my katana ready to move at any moment. I hear the slightest movement in front of me and swing my katana around to protect the front of my body. But I'm too late- Fu's hand is gripping my katana arm, twisting until there's a sickening snap and my arm breaks. My eyes widen in shock. The pain takes a few moments to really set it, but by then my left fist is swinging around. It connects with her jaw, definitely knocking some teeth loose. At this point, I was completely pissed off. I just wanted to go one entire month without hurting something. Just one month, and I would be grateful. Just one damn month.

The substance begins to dissipate. I see Sasori and Deidara behind me, finishing their enemies off. I stand swiftly, backing away from Fu. She glares at me. I mouth 'sumimasen' to her, trying to convey that this wasn't my choice. A brief shred of pity passes through her eyes, and though she quickly conceals it, she backs away from us.

My arm hangs limply at my side. I could already feel the swelling up, the awkward break of the bone and the stiffness in my arm. I step backwards, my gaze flickering between my companions and Fu. Deidara steps forward and grips my left arm. "C'mon, un, we need to go."

I nod. "Yeah. Follow me." One last fleeting glance at Fu and then I'm turning away, heading directly for the treeline. I put my katana back into its sheath, ignoring the tendrils of pain that shot through my body immediately upon moving my injured arm. Once my katana is in place I let my arm hang. I knew it would probably be best if I kept it elevated, but I was in too much of a rush to care. Sasori, Deidara and I make it into the treeline, followed by another two jonin, plus a Special Forces unit. Taki's Special Forces units were the equivalent of Konoha's ANBU. There were six enemy nin in total.

Deidara has a smirk on his face. He digs his hand into his pouch and then releases several miniature bombs. One lands upon a jonin's arm and detonates, effectively removing it. The jonin freezes, gripping his arm. I turn back to the front and keep moving. We needed to get away.

Three miles later and we're still being followed. I don't know if I can take much more strain on my arm. Deep down, though, I know it'll take so much more to bring me down. I just wanted to lose the enemies and get back to the base. Then something dawns on me- Deidara mentioned he could expand his clay into a giant, flying bird. So couldn't we use that? "Deidara-kun! Use your clay!" I hiss. He turns to look at me, almost confused, but then his eyes widen and he digs into his pocket.

"Sasori-danna, Amaya-chan, be prepared to jump!" He tells us. We nod and then he tosses a bird-shaped lump of clay far before us, forming a handsign. It expands into the bird and we jump. It rises rapidly, escaping up and out of the forest. And then we're flying high above the forest, watching as we get farther and farther away from Taki. The crushed feeling from everything that happened- betraying Taki, killing Nao, hurting Fu, all come crashing down on my head. I close my eyes and cradle my arm to my chest, trying to focus on anything else, anything else at all.

~INAF~

-THIRD PERSON POV-

Days later, when the three man squad was back at the base, one blonde-haired member of said squad approaches one of the former Takigakure ninja. He asks, "Hey, Kakuzu-san, un?"

"...Yes?"

"What's it like, leaving Takigakure, yeah, and its tree behind?"

"...like loosing your soul."

~INAF~

TA-DA.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter. Sorry about delays with updating and all that. I am doing my best to get things written and posted. Please review for me! Love you, kiddies 3 My apologies for typos!


	9. Chapter 7 To Sleep Forever

Hey, Hi, Hello.

Welcome to chapter seven of 'Indebted'. I hope you enjoy it :D please review! The song doesn't have much to do with the story now, and most of the song never really will, but the lyrics I put in will later apply to something. It's 'Am I Evil?' by Metallica. I probably should work harder on getting matching lyrics, but for this chapter it's kind of hard.

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Naruto, but believe me, I'm working on it.  
**WARNINGS:** Blood. Gore. The usual.

**Anything in bold is important or with emphasis. **  
_This is what thoughts look like. _  
_'This is what song lyrics look like.'_

~INAF~

_'Am I evil? _  
_Yes, I am. _  
_Am I evil? _  
_I am man, _  
_yes I am.'_

~INAF~

Two and a half days on Deidara's clay bird gets us about an hour's walk from the entrance to the base. All three of us are tired and annoyed, though Deidara's the only one who's vocal about it. He's mostly tired and annoyed because of using a large portion of his chakra up with our transportation back. I'm tired, annoyed and in an intense amount of pain because of my arm. It's swollen triple its normal size, and I can feel that the bones weren't setting in the right place. Kakuzu would have to re-break them so they could heal properly. Sasori was mostly tired and annoyed because of Deidara's whining.

We make it to the stone slab with the ring indentations just over an hour after hitting the ground. It takes a little bit of effort to get mine into its place but once I do the stone wall moves and the living room is exposed. Zetsu is there, his head buried in a book, something about parasites that were beneficial to various green house plants. I begin to head over to Pein-sama's office along with Sasori and Deidara, but Konan emerges from within, takes one look at my arm (free of my cloak, because it was so swollen that the fabric became too tight) and sends me to Kakuzu. I feel grateful for this- I just wanted to get my arm fixed and get to my room.

I find Kakuzu in the infirmary stitching Hidan up. I take a seat on an empty cot and remove my hip pouch with my unharmed arm. I take out all six vials, lining them up next to me. Nao's blood is dark, looking almost black through the glass. I swallow heavily. My heart hurts, something deeper than the pain in my arm and something I don't think I'll ever be able to describe, or even get close to putting a name to. The term heartbreak seemed to shallow and limited a phrase to properly describe what I felt now, and what I imagined I would always feel. It was like a cable chord was attached to my chest, weighing all of my body down with some impossible weight that was much further beyond anything physical. His chakra is still spinning away, swirling lazily within the bottle. Just as tears begin to prick at the corners of my eyes, I force my thoughts elsewhere. There was no point in crying over this, not in front of them, people who didn't even care. I look over to Kakuzu. He's finishing up the stitching on one of Hidan's wounds. He glances over at my arm. His gaze flickers over the vials. His hand freezes momentarily, barely noticeable. Then he's moving again, pulling the needle through Hidan's skin before tying it off and snipping the thread.

Hidan is eyeing the blood-vial. His eyes are narrowed slightly, like he's trying to figure something out. "Hey, little bitch, is that blood?" His gaze flickers over to me for the slightest moment before he looks back at the vial.

I nod, willing myself not to look down at the little glass container. It felt red-hot in my hand, though I knew it wasn't. "Yeah, it is." There was no point in arguing with what he called me. I could already tell there was absolutely no chance he would budge, not now at least. So I'd just ignore it the best I could.

"Why the fuck do you have fucking blood in a bottle?" He asks, brow furrowed. I roll my eyes at him.

"I killed somebody and took their blood," I tell him. Kakuzu's now moved over to me. He glances at the bottles.

"I assume this occured in Takigakure," he says. His voice is gruff, emotionless. What I expected. After I nod, he looks at my arm. My eyes follow his gaze. Then, without any sort of warning, his hands dart out and **pulls** my arm outwards, extending it fully. I feel all the bones rebreak, each and every chip and crack being forced back into fragments. I grit my teeth from the agony spreading through out my arm, forcing myself not to make a single noise at how much it **hurtshurtshurts**. Sure, it hurt before, but that was more of a dull ache. Now it feels like there's fire burning a path from my shoulder to the very tips of my fingers, radiating outwards from the center, somewhere just above my elbow.

"Kuso," I hiss, "You couldn't have given me a warning, huh?" Kakuzu doesn't say anything, just presses his hands against my arm. I feel warmth spread, different from the fire. Lighter but more intense. It originated from his hands. It's traveling up my arm until all of the pain was erased. It doesn't stop then, no- it continues, permeating every inch of my arm, its intensity increasing as if someone cranked the power up. The fire's replaced by something completely different and much, much worse. It feels like fingers are clawing my veins, shredding them into tiny pieces. I can't help but make a face at this. I feel the bones mend, re-absorb into themselves and move back into place. The swelling reduces, leaving behind a tingling feeling. The impossible clawing makes my fingers twitch with a desire to scratch at my arm until it subsided. If I could, I would. Until my arm bled and my fingernails were ragged. The feeling remains, even after he removes his hands from my arm (though the intensity drops until it's only a faint itch). I find I can finally move my arm and wiggle my fingers without wanting to scream.

Hidan, meanwhile, is smirking and laughing at my reaction. I glare at him, only making him laugh harder. Kakuzu sends him a glare as well. I decide to ignore his laughing at me, instead gathering the two vials I intended to give Kakuzu. I hold them carefully in my hands, feeling their warmth. "Kakuzu-sama... when we went to Taki, I got something for you. I knew I would want it, if I had been away for so long...so, uh, yeah. Here you are."

I hold them out so he could take them. He does. He gazes down at them for a moment, just looking down at them. Then, much to my surprise, he murmurs, "Thank you. I have be unable to return even once...It's been a while." He pockets them and stands. Without another word he exits the room. I smile softly. Then I jump off of my cot.

"Hey, little bitch! What the fuck did you give that heathen fucker?" Hidan shouts, jumping up from his cot. I gather my things- ever so careful with the remaining glass vials -and strap my hip pouch back on. Hidan's next to me now, complaining. "Jashin-sama above, you heathen assholes aren't even-"

"Dirt," I answer him. I face him. His violet eyes are actually really pretty, if you could get past how much of a religious nutter he was long enough to really look at them. His face was fine-boned, almost superior. Not in the obvious high-and-mighty Uchiha fashion, but rather something more understated that took a bit of looking to really see, and definitely more masculine than an Uchiha's. "Dirt," I repeat. "And water. From Takigakure."

And, with that, I turn to leave him, going straight to the door heading out into the training area. Leader-sama would be. But he doesn't stop bothering me, oh no. He follows after me. "What the fuck did you give him that stupid shit for?"

I roll my eyes and absentmindedly scratch at my arm. "You ever been to Taki?"

He's frowning, I can tell. "No, I haven't been to stupid fucking Takigakure, little bitch."

"Well," I begin, as if explaining to a little kid, "in Taki, there's a great big tree. The entire village is built around it. There's a miniature lake surrounding it, though there is a dirt pathway leading out to it, and a strip of dirt about five yards surrounding the base. That tree is hard to explain. It's like...it becomes a part of you. It holds the chakra of anyone who's ever come into physical contact with it. We revere that tree, the whole village, the forest...it's sort of how you worship Jashin, I guess. The willingness for your own life to end before you ever stopped believing in it."

I look back at Hidan. He's being awfully quiet, quite unlike him, just frowning down at his feet. His arms are crossed over his chest. When I've stopped talking, he looks back up, still frowning, and says, "I fucking guess I understand what the hell you're saying."

I nod and smile a little bit. "Yeah, it's like loosing part of yourself when you know you're not gonna go back and be able to see the village again. Hey, maybe one day you and Kakuzu-sama will get a mission there, or even somewhere close. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go see Leader-sama."

He rolls his eyes. "Whatever, little bitch. I have more important shit to do than talk to some heathen fucker like you."

I shrug my shoulders, feeling next to nothing at his words. He probably did.

~INAF~

"So," Leader-sama begins, "Tell me about who you killed, why, and how."

I'm sitting in between Sasori and Deidara. Leader-sama is directly in front of me, sitting in his desk chair. He's leaning forward, his hands threaded together and underneath his chin. His elbows are supported by the desktop, where he's resting them. I nod. "Hai...well, Sasori-sama, Deidara-sama and I were walking through the streets, a few blocks past the marketplace. The jinchuriki was in the center, at the great tree. The streets were empty, save for one person. I knew who it was. He was my former genin team mate, named Nao. He was excellent at chakra recognition, and because I knew he was familiar with mine and would detect and identify it despite the fact it was masked, I sent Sasori-sama and Deidara-sama off, knowing it would be easier to deal with him if it was just the two of us."

"They left. I dropped the henge, and talked to him. He got closer, close enough for me to touch him. He trusted me, because of...well, he trusted me, that trust being emphasized 'cause of what I told him. He dropped his guard and I stabbed him with a kunai in his stomach. He died quickly and didn't try to make any noise. Then I left his body in the alleyway and caught up with my companions."

Leader-sama's Rinnegan eyes bore into me for several quiet moments. Then he seems to accept my story and he nods. "Alright. You three are dismissed." I stand and murmur 'arigato' before turning. I'm the first out of the door. I go straight up to my room, completely ignoring all that I pass, even Tobi who shouts out to me as I passed. I didn't want to talk or think, not even about Leader-sama barely questioning me of the mission. I rather felt like taking a long shower and then sleeping forever. I was hoping that if I tried hard enough, it would actually work. If I slept forever, it would certainly leave no time for me to think of what I had done.

~INAF~

TA-DA.

Done, finally. Hopefully you enjoyed this! Thank you for reading! 3


	10. Chapter 8 If It Works

Hey, Hi, Hello.

Welcome to chapter eight of Indebted. Please enjoy it. No song for this chapter, sorry!

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Naruto.  
**WARNINGS:** Cussing. Amaya's temper and a rant at the beginning, plus the start of something awkward xD

**Anything in bold is important or with emphasis. **  
_If in mid-sentence or speech, italics are something with emphasis. _  
_This is what Amaya's thoughts look like. _  
_'This is what song lyrics look like.'_

~INAF~

I feel a sort of quiet heartbreak soaking into my bones, the kind that's not caused by anything you had any control over and the kind that just won't fucking disappear no matter what you do, from crying until your eyes dry up and eating your own body's weight in chocolate to downing alcohol until you're so unbalanced and uneven on your feet that you don't have a snowball's chance in hell of getting back to your home, safe and sound, without the help of someone much more reliable than you will ever be, no matter how desperately you try to meet the expectations placed upon you by those who are much better at life than you are and can ever hope to be.

So why was I still crying, when there was absolutely nothing I could do to fix it or make it go away? Either way, it didn't matter. I was still curled up in the floor of my shower, crying helplessly. Nothing seemed like it would be okay ever again, no matter what I did. And did I really want to be okay? I didn't honestly deserve that. I was the cause of it, control or not, and I knew it. It was my hand that was holding the kunai, mine that stabbed Nao in the stomach. My fault. My fault, my guilt, my heartbreak.

The water has long since run cold, and I wonder how long I had been in here, and if it really mattered. I couldn't begin to imagine why it would, but I still pull myself up. My limbs feel too heavy, like they weighed double what they should. My head, in contrast, feels lightweight. I turn the stream of water off and step out onto the tile floor. It's moist and lukewarm beneath my feet. I grab my towel from where it was hanging and begin massaging my scalp with it an effort to dry my hair. As I'm doing so I stand in front of the mirror, just looking at myself. The angry scars from the stab wounds I sustained in the fight with Hidan stand out. My hands fall limp, and the hand that wasn't holding the towel automatically travels down and traces each one, thin fingers trailing lightly over the still sensitive injuries. I stare at myself in the mirror for a while longer.

It was time for me to get out of the bathroom. I get dressed mechanically, still questioning myself. I cannot seem to place a motivation to my actions. I was just some talentless little brat who hadn't even grown up yet. Not like I was worth much, right? Right. Not much.

I climb down the stairs and walk into the kitchen. Hidan, Kakuzu, Deidara, Kisame, Itachi and Zetsu are all in there. I don't make any sort of effort to talk to any of them. I just grab a bowl and a packet of ramen. I make it successfully and I'm about halfway through eating it before someone, either not detecting the foul mood I'm in or just not caring, decides to fuck with me. This happens to be Hidan.

"Hey, little bitch! You're being too fuckin' quiet! Why?" He demands. I ignore him, not a single muscle even twitching at his words. This pisses him off. "Little bitch, I'm talkin' to you!" Once more, I'm silent. "Is it 'cause you stabbed your dumb little fuckin' friend-"

"Just shut up, Hidan," I mutter. "Really. Shut up."

"Oh," he says, glowing with pride. "Have I hit a sensitive spot, little bitch? The little retard-"

The bowl I was eating my ramen from nails him right in the face, shattering upon impact. Little red cuts appear all over his face. I've stood up from my chair, seething angry. "You," I hiss, "better not say one more Kami-damned word about him. You don't know anything about him, you don't even know his name. You don't deserve to. Shut your fucking mouth about him!"

Deafening silence. I stand, fists clenched at my sides. I move to walk from the room, but my departure is interrupted. "Shit, little bitch got mad-"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" My fist hits Hidan's jaw with frightening intensity. A sickening snap sounds, his blood splattering across the kitchen floor. His jaw was broken. And I don't even feel bad about it, not in the slightest. I glare at him, hard, before turning on my heel and leaving. I needed to blow off some steam. Preferably by destroying something.

~INAF~

The training dummies were completely destroyed, either by being burnt to bits or slashed into teeny tiny pieces. Kakuzu-sama, being the treasurer of the Akatsuki, would likely strangle me for this. I would make an effort to pay him back, at least partially.

"You are extremely angry, kid."

Why thank you, Captain Fucking Obvious. I don't turn to face him. "Hai, Kisame-sama." My chest heaves. I exerted quite a bit of chakra burning the dummies. They were still smoking.

"What is it, then? It's pissin' you off clearly, and that shit's the kinda stuff you need to get off your chest." He steps forward, standing next to me. Observing the burnt, twisted masses of charred wood and hay.

"I went to Taki and had to kill my former genin teammate. I was in love with him and stabbed him in the gut like it was nothing." My voice is emotionless, though it threatens to give out.

"What rank were you?"

"Jonin," I mumble. "Graduated from the Academy when I was eight."

A moment of silence. Then Kisame speaks. "Well, I can't say it'll be easy to get over, because you never will be completely over it. You'll eventually come to terms with it, but it won't be for a long while. And until the day when it finally feels not so fuckin' hard to think about, because you'll always be reminded of that moment, you'll be fighting a war with yourself."

"I never had a choice..." I mumble.

"Honestly, kid, none of us did."

~INAF~

According to Kisame-sama, my big issue was everything I did.

Or, at least that's what it sounds like right now. And he's right with everything he says. He was only the greatest swordsman alive, after all. So I listened to him, to the extremest form. "Tighten up your shoulders and swing with a lotta force, like you did when you broke Hidan's jaw. Like he's talkin' again and just won't shut the fuck up unless you run him through with your katana."

I do exactly as he says, building the muscles in my arms up and swinging the katana forward. It slices through the clone, though not as smooth as it should've been. I readjust my grip on the handle, tighten my shoulders like he told me to do, and swing the blade again. It swishes easily through the air as I spin around. Two clones dissipate as my katana shreds them to pieces.

"Channel that anger and hate! Tap into what infuriates you the most and go with it!" He instructs. "Feel the blade like it's an extension of your own arm!" I close my eyes for a brief moment and think of what infuriates me the most. Three images come to mind- Nao's blood on my hands, the self-righteous look on Hidan's face before I threw my bowl at him, and knowing I never really had a choice in anything that happened to me. My eyes open again and I feel the same rage I experienced from Hidan's mouthing off building up in my chest, white hot and searing. I gather my muscles and swing my katana forward, letting my eyes close as it swung in a smooth arc, viciously tearing through six clones in quick succesion.

Kisame whistles lowly. The clones disappear, and I relax from my fighting stance. I glance over to see Itach standing calmly next to Kisame, his face void of emotion. I sheath my katana. I walk over to the two members. Itach has a scroll in one hand. My chest aches lightly from all of my movement but I push the pain away. "Hey, Itachi-sama."

His onyx gaze flicks over my body. My skin shined in the light, slick with sweat. "You and I are being dispatched on a mission. Details are within this scroll. We leave Wednesday morning." He hands me the scroll and walks away.

I call after him, "Hai, Itachi-sama! See you then!" I planned on getting a lot of sleeping in; today was Sunday, and it was probably already dark outside.

Kisame claps my shoulder. "You did good, kid. I figure you're exhausted, so this training session is over. But we will be working on it more tomorrow afternoon. You have a ways to go."

I smile at him. "Hai, Kisame-sama! Arigato!" He just chuckles, tells me goodnight and leaves. After he's out of eyesight, I frown down at myself. Looks like I'd need another shower.

~INAF~

The mission was relatively straightforward. A powerful businessman several villages away was holding up our supply train, and Itachi and I were to infiltrate his base and assassinate him. The estimated completion time was an entire month, most of it being spent just traveling there and back. We would have to do a few days worth of simple observation, getting the feel of the town and figuring out his routine. An A-rank mission. This infiltrate-and-assassinate style of missions were definitely up my alley.

I pack three pairs of clothes, a bar of soap, my set for sharpening and shining my katana, a couple of sheets of paper for writing a letter to my family, a canteen full of water, and some bars of chocolate. Light weight and mostly essential. Itachi-sama and I leave promptly at five o'clock in the morning. We're both completely silent, for which I am grateful. I'm contemplating a lot- mostly how my life was going. My conclusion on it so far was that it was at least halfway decent and of a little bit of value- I was still alive.

Itachi-sama and I stop around three o'clock to take a break. I sit on a rock and remove my katana and its harness from my back, setting it down next to me. Then I get my canteen and a bar of chocolate and lean back against the side of the cave we were in. Itachi-sama gets a bento box and begins to eat his food.

"Hey, Itachi-sama, there's a river that runs a few miles from here, right?" I ask.

"Yes," he mutters, glaring down at his food.

"Ah, good. I just wanted to know, in case I need to refill my canteen," I explain, even though I realize he didn't care in the slighest. After we finish eating we pack up and head out.

We reach a small village around dusk and decide to stop and get an inn room for the night. I fall into an uneasy sleep. My stomach felt a bit weird but I was tired so I just disregarded it and went back to sleep. My dreams are relatively normal, Nao popping up in all of them. I awaken in the middle of the night. Itachi-sama is sleeping away in his bed. I shuffle into the mini bathroom the hotel provided, and that's when I notice something- I was bleeding.

**"ITACHI-SAMA!"**

~INAF~

TA-DA!

Done. I hope you guys enjoy this! Love you kiddies!


	11. Chapter 9 Cutthroat

Hey, Hi, Hello.

Welcome to chapter nine of Indebted. I hope you like it! (: please comment and vote. I apologize about how long it took to get this chapter out, and for the fact that it's shamefully short ;/.\;

**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Naruto.  
**WARNINGS:** Cussing and blood, as well as some awkward moments. And the mission, infiltrate and assassinate? Has a creeper in there. Skip over it and to the end if it makes you uncomfortable.

**Anything in bold is important or with emphasis. **  
_If in mid-sentence or speech, italics are something with emphasis. _  
_This is what Amaya's thoughts look like. _  
_'This is what song lyrics look like.'_

~INAF~

** "ITACHI-SAMA!"**

He's in the bathroom in seconds, eyes blazing red with the Sharingan. He scan the room, looking for an enemy. He does this, looking all around, not finding one- and then his eyes land on my legs. They stay there, seemingly transfixed upon them. "I-Itachi-sama?" I whimper.

His eyes flutter closed. When they re-open, they've returned to their normal onyx color. His stance relaxes and he straightens. "Sit," he instructs, and I follow his words with question, sitting on the toilet. He looks all around the bathroom, digging through the cabinets. The whole time, I'm babbling away.

I nod weakly. "I-Itachi-sama... I'm really sorry! If I had known this would happen then I would've said something, but I didn't because I didn't know, and really, how could I have known? You can't just predict this shit, but I'm still really sorry and I understand if you kill me because I'm annoying you too much. If that's the case then just go ahead and do it, because my life doesn't seem to hold much value to anyone, not even myself. It could be argued my parents might care, but they would get over it because I betrayed the village and killed one of my important people and there's no way they could truly love m-me after t-that, and K-kami dammit, I-I'm sorry 'cause-e I'm cryin' now...I-I really am-m sorry, Itachi-sama-a..." I breathe in shakily, feeling lightheaded. Tears are pouring down my cheeks and I do my best to wipe them off and stop crying, but it's really hard to do because I feel like I'm having a panic attack and hyperventilating, which is making my fingers tingle. The tears come harder and my chest heaves, vision blurring behind said tears. My chest aches with forced, rapid breathing.

Itachi-sama is suddenly before me, crouching on the cold tile. He pulls my hands away from my face and his cold onyx gaze meets mine. "Calm down," he states, his voice seeming almost hypnotic. I manage a nod and he continues talking, saying, "Take a slow, deep breath...calm down, I'm not going to kill you..." I follow his instructions to the best of my ability, still shaking and crying. But after a few moments, which feel like forever, I slow my breathing to more normal rate. It's still uneven and shaky, but it's not too fast and I feel a little less dizzy than before. My vision clears up and I see Itachi-sama easily.

He hands me a box, and a blush burns across my cheeks. That box...that box was... I can't even think it. _Nononono_. "Take your time," he tells me, standing. I hear the bathroom door open and close as he leaves but my gaze is unwillingly kept on the box he handed me. This was really bad timing.

~INAF~

I emerge from the bathroom around thirty minutes later, having taken my time with reading instructions and changing into clean clothes. Itachi-sama is sitting at the foot of his bed, waiting patiently for me to come out. As I do he glances briefly up. I set my folded but dirty clothes down on the floor, next to my bag. Then I sit down across from him on my own bed.

There's a silence between us before he speaks. "You understand what happened."

I nod. His eyes watch me carefully. "Hai. I...started my..." My cheeks flush red and my voice fades out into a whisper. "I started my menstrual cycle. For the first time."

"And you are not entirely in the dark of what this means," he says. This was painfully awkward, for the both of us. If only Konan-sama was here...

"Ano, I only know a little bit," I say, feeling hesitant. This was horrible. I felt like my insides were ripped to shreds, I was bleeding enough that it looked like there was a double homicide between my legs and, if none of that was bad enough, I was with Itachi-sama. Of all people.

"Well you'll be staying as such for the duration of the trip. We'll be leaving in an hour," he says, turning away from me. I don't say a word. It wasn't like I was expecting anything else, right? I certainly didn't want to to talk about this with him, either.

~INAF~

Six horrible days later, we finally arrive in the village where our target was. We get an inn room, get cleaned up, and locate a cozy little tea shop about a block from the target's house. We sit at a table in the back. A waitress comes by, and we order tea. I scan the tea shop, searching to see if our target is there. He's not, but even so I keep a look out for him. Not enough to arouse suspicion, though. Itachi-sama would probably kill me if I fucked this up. I was surprised he hadn't already, as it were. Maybe I was just having weird luck lately.

The waitress arrives with our tea, and I hold the little cup carefully. I glance down into it, noting the way it smelled like the tea my mother made. After smiling tightly down at it, feeling my mood plunge even deeper, I lift the cup to my lips and drink a mouthful of it. It tasted of cinnamon, nothing like my mother's tea, which only makes me feel a little bit better. Not much, though, so I set the cup down and resume scanning the little cafe. A group of three teenagers has entered, joking loudly. One of them has blonde hair the same general shade of Nao's, and my stomach clenches. I drink more tea and let my eyes stray to the door.

Up to thirty minutes later and I feel a bit antsy. We had been in here for a while, munching on dango and sipping tea. If we stayed here for much longer we'd be drawing way too much attention to ourselves. We were, after all, the only ones who had been in here for this long. All of those who were here when we arrived already left, and even a few people that came in after us. And so it was coincidentally perfect timing when the door opened and in walked our target. He's clearly not any sort of upstanding citizen, but more of the kind who pretended he was.

He's by himself, wearing black pants, boots, a flak jacket and a cloak. The cloak was plain black, embroidered with silver and gold. He wore a self-absorbed smirk and already I wanted to smash his skull in with blunt force. He casts a glance around the room, eyes lecherous and lingering on a pair of young girls sitting by the front windows. He only moves his eyes from them when he reaches the counter. He gives the girl there a handful of yen and she hands over a to-go cup. Then, after another couple of glances at the girls, who couldn't have been older than sixteen, he turns and exits the shop. So he came here often, it seemed. That was good- found an entry point, a way for me to draw his attention.

~INAF~

Three days later, after a lot of observation, some primping, and a henge into a form that would definitely draw his attention, I'm back to sitting in the tea shop. This time, though, I'm by myself. I altered my physical form, making myself a couple of inches taller and adding a curve to my hips and increasing my bust a little. If the way he was staring at those girls the other day was any indicator, he liked those who were petite.

His eyes land on me almost immediately, and I clearly capture his attention. I let my eyes flutter up to his, smiling coyly before dropping my gaze and sipping my cup of tea. That gaze burns a hole in my skin with its intensity and how it made my skin crawl. I force my gaze to stay focused, and I don't let myself tense up as he approaches me. His hand brushes across my shoulder and I act appropriately startled. He smiles, one that was intended to be kind, and says, "Oh, I'm sorry for startling you, dear, but I couldn't help but notice you were alone. Any reason?"

I blink at him, feigning slight confusion. "Oh, it's okay. And nothing particular, I just...well, my mother..." I let my voice fade out and my eyes water. He falls for it instantly, and I feel my skin crawl as another smile takes place, this one far more lecherous, creepy, and fear-inducing than those before him. I know if it comes to it I could kill him now, and that Itachi-sama is watching carefully from the shadows, but I can't help but feel on edge as he speaks once more.

"Oh, don't worry, dear..."

~INAF~

A week later and he has invited me to stay with his family temporarily until I reconcile with my mother. Or, so that's what he thinks. Itachi-sama was the one to come up with the story- my mother and I had a disagreement, so she kicked me out and I am now attempting to patch things up. It wasn't perfect but I didn't need it to be.

As of now, I am sitting across from him at the dining room table in his home. It was dinner time, late at night, and I figured tonight would be a good night to kill him. I was getting impatient, and I found out all of the information as to what he was doing to hold up the supplies, why, and who was helping him. The fucker deserved to die, and his wife should be there to see it. She was only his wife in legal terms, and in on his trafficking ring and illegal activities. She's here, too, prattling on about something unimportant. I feel his gaze on me. He had made several attempts at me, all of which I managed to slip out of.

"And then Kenji said she was lying, and I couldn't help but believe him. So I poisoned her drink and she collapsed. It was rather funny, acting tragic like that..." Yes, his wife was stupid and gossipy, and it didn't help she hated me either.

He smiles at her. "Ah, dear, I don't believe that's exactly appropriate to be talking about in front of a guest..." I feel my grip on my knife tighten. The edge was serrated and would slide smoothly into his brain, if the right force was applied to it.

"It's not like the whore even-"

My voice is cold, clear, full of deadly intent and far from the high, bell-like tone I had been using around these people. "The Akatsuki sends its regards," I state, raising my hand and flicking my wrist. The knife sails through the air and embeds itself into the man's eye socket, blood spurting from it in crimson waves. The wife screams in terror as blood soaks the table and covers her face, though I cut the shrieks off by throwing the fork I had at her. It hits her jugular vein with deadly accuracy, killing her quickly despite the fact I wasn't necessarily supposed to kill her too, and I stand immediately. Time to make an escape- those screams surely alerted the guards he had patrolling all around the property.

~INAF~

TA-DA.

Done. Please comment and vote! (: 3 sorry for any typos.


	12. Chapter 10 Melodic

Konnichiwa!

Welcome to chapter ten of 'Indebted'. Yes, the wait was ridiculously long and stupid. Sorry? xD Here it is now, though. I hope you enjoy it.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything.  
WARNINGS: Nothing, really.

_This is what a letter looks like :o _

~INAF~

_To my family-_

_I thought I wouldn't have to force the words out._

_I thought they would come easily, and I'd be able to tell you all about my adventures so far. But I can't. I can't tell you what I've had to do. It's not even been three months and I can't even write it out. Because then you'd be just as ashamed of me as I am. You already know part of my actions, and I'm sure you all hate me already._

_I welcome that with open arms. I deserve it. I hate myself so much, more than I ever thought was possible. I hate myself for it. I hate myself for everything I am, hate myself for bending to fate's will, for even being born. That reflects my greatest fault, my inability to stand by myself._

_I am sorry. So endlessly regretful, and if I could get past that fatal flaw of mine I'd be dead by seppuku already. I can't think about it without wanting to die. I don't think I ever will, not even a little bit, despite what Kisame-sama says._

_I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I don't deserve life. Please don't forgive me. Tell the village of how I abandoned Taki of my own free will to join the Akatsuki. Tell them I enjoyed stabbing Nao, that I loved the way the blood felt like it was boiling on my skin and that it soaked in and stained my hands. If you convince them, make me out to be a monster who wanted nothing but to kill and have them think I am as low as Kakuzu-sama, then I'll be happy. I need them to hate me. It will feel better knowing I can't come back if I also know they don't want me to._

_Amaya._

~INAF~

We make it back to base about three days before we were due back. I don't feel satisfied about this in the slightest, because that meant it was that much sooner I'd have to be back and be around others. I didn't mind being around Itachi-sama, because he didn't acknowledge my presence. That was a bit comforting, knowing that he didn't care about me in the slightest. What else did I deserve or expect?

When we get back we go directly to Leader-sama's office. My feet feel like they're going to fall off, my hands are callused and my katana has dried blood caked onto the handle. We ran into a few groups of bandits on our way back. I knock twice on the door to his office and after a few moments, the door swings open. Tobi exits, and upon seeing me he tackles me. I manage to keep my balance as he clings to me like a child.

"AMAYA-CHAN! TOBI IS A GOOD BOY!"

I look down at him, raising my eyebrow. "Hello," I reply evenly. "Please let go now."

He frowns, pouting at me. "Amaya-chan..." he sniffles, "Is Tobi a bad boy?"

"He will be if he doesn't let go now," I reply, narrowing my eyes upon seeing the almost calculating way Tobi's eye glinted in his mask. It was, as far as I could tell, onyx. And that specific shade of the color reminded me of something, something that I couldn't quite fucking place. I tense a little at the thought that occurs to me next- maybe Tobi wasn't so innocent. More deceptive.

Tobi lets go, looking more than a little bit suspicious. I turn and enter Leader-sama's office after Itachi, taking a seat next to him. Leader-sama seems a bit tense, leaning forward with his elbows on the desk and a distinctly annoyed look on his face. The door shuts with a flick of his wrist.

"Begin," he murmurs, eyes training in on the two of us. Itachi follows his orders, giving him the mission report up until the point I went under cover. He left out the extremely embarrassing incident, for which I am extremely grateful and very surprised at. But then he falls silent and I am left to pick up where he left off.

"I infiltrated his compound on the aforementioned day, under the guise that I was recently kicked out by my mother and needed a place to stay. I remained in position for a week, gathering all information I could. I discovered where the supplies were going to, who, and why. They are going to a man named Kurita Genzo in Kiri. Kurita is building a base of missing and S-class ninja in an attempt to overthrow other groups of missing and S-class ninja. Including us. The seventh night I killed him by throwing a knife across a table at him and having it embed itself into his forehead. I killed his wife as well, and discovered useful information on taking down several trafficking rings that can cause harm to our group."

Leader-sama seems to be musing to himself. After a pause, he states, "Alright. You shall submit a full, detailed report on the details you gathered by tomorrow, Tsukino. Now both of you, leave me."

We nod respectfully and stand, filing quickly and quietly from his office. I go to find Konan-sama to let her know about the... development ... that occurred to me while away. It takes some searching but I find her in the same room she took me to to get my measurements taken for my cloak. She doesn't look up from her work as I enter, just quietly saying, "Welcome back, Amaya-san."

"Konan-sama, I... w-well, I, um..." I flush bright red, dropping my gaze feet.

"What is it?" She asks, a hint of concern entering her voice. She's looking up now- I can see that much from the corner of my eye.

"I, well, y-you see... IstartedmyperiodforthefirsttimeonthemissionwithIta chi-sama," I blurt, knotting my fingers together. They're hidden by my cloak, and I am slightly grateful she can't see how much I am fidgeting. My chest is constricting too, like it did when I was panicking because I thought I angered Itachi-sama.

"Oh, Amaya," Konan says, standing immediately from her position. "Come with me. I will explain..."

And so, two hours and many self-directed death threats later I have fully realized my situation. And I highly doubt I will ever be able to look any where near Itachi-sama, much less even go on a mission with him. I would die of sheer embarrassment and shame. I am walking back to my room, the kit Konan-sama gave me tucked securely under my arm, when I encountered someone I never actually looked forward to seeing.

Hidan.

"Hey, little bitch!" He says, smirking at me like he's the coolest fucking thing on the face of the planet. Honestly, his self-absorption is disgusting. He is a teeny tiny bit cute though, what with the violet eyes and lack of shirt... dammit, no! I still loved Nao and I didn't want to let myself feel anything for anyone like I did for him. There was no point, I don't deserve any happiness anyways. And I highly doubt that Hidan would ever be interested in giving that happiness to me. So yeah.

I give him a firm scowl. "Hidan-baka-sama."

He laughs, a sharp sound. "You're fuckin' a cheeky thing, little bitch! I think I fuckin' like you!"

"I am surprised you know what the word 'cheeky' means. Your intelligence remains to be seen. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go..." I trail off. I had to get to writing the report for Pein-sama.

He scowls mockingly. "Blah blah blah. Whatever, little bitch, I have a fuckin' life to get to."

I nod once, not saying anything further and simply continuing upon my path to my room. He was, once again, true.

~INAF~

Three grueling hours later and my complete report is filled out. While I should likely get the report to Pein-sama as soon as possible, the thought of a shower sounded simply amazing as of now. I stand from my spot and stretch, listening to the bones in my back crack with the movement. I relax my stance and roll my shoulder blades in their sockets, stopping when I felt my muscles weren't going to stretch out much more.

I gather some casual clothes- an oversized tank top and shorts that were a bit loose around my waist- and go to the bathroom. I finish up my shower relatively quickly, not wanting to get prune-like as I tended to do if I started to think too much, because I'd drift off into my thoughts and lose track of time.

Once I am mostly dried and completely dressed I grab the report for Pein-sama, exiting my room and heading downstairs. I pass Sasori-sama in the living room. He glances at my thin frame and I automatically feel a bit self-conscious, because I know I have the body of a ten year old boy, with only a little bit of visible muscle. Not very grown up.

I knock twice on the door to Pein-sama's office, waiting for permission to enter. It comes after a few moments, and I open the door and step forth. I stop in front of him and show him the scroll. "You are dismissed," he murmurs, reaching for the scroll. I hand it over and exit quickly. I make it back upstairs without any incidents, something I am grateful for. Upon reaching my room, however, I realize that I'm really fucking hungry. So back downstairs I go, into the kitchen. Kakuzu-sama is the only one within, rifling through the cabinets, and upon my entrance tells me, "In one week you will be leaving with Hidan to collect a bounty for me. You will be due back in a week's time. He will tell you the details before then."

With those words, he leaves, a small box of food in hand.

I shrug. It would feel like walking through hell being around Hidan for that long, but what was I to do about it? Tell him no? No, I wouldn't.

~INAF~

The End. Sorry for the wait, I've had so much going on that it's ridiculous. Plus, juggling three stories and oneshots that I've started writing bits of to get out of writer's block and then having those morph into fullblown pieces that I have an insane compulsion to finish just makes it that much harder. But I'm trying! Expect an 'extra' for this story, dealing with Shippuden plot (: I'm excited for this, it won't exceed 1500 words so not much but oh well xD

Can we see a potential bond possibly, maybe forming between Amaya and the Akatsuki mentioned in every chapter at least once, but mostly several times? Yeah, forget what I was gonna do, I've added in someone else! 3


	13. Chapter 11 Heretic

Welcome!

Titled 'Heretic'. First quote is from nothing in specific, but the second is Pierce The Veil, 'Chemical Kids and Mechanical Brides'.

**DISCLAIMER:** Weeeellllllll no.  
**WARNINGS:** Blood and two letters.

_This is what letters and threatening whispers look like.  
'Quotes appear like so.'_  
**Stuff with emphasis.**

~INAF~

_'If you want to put it that way.'_

~INAF~

_ Amaya,_

_ This is your older brother, Takeshi. I just wanted to say that I love and miss you very much, though your brief time in Taki as an Akatsuki was rather unwanted. I'll always love you, no matter what you do, so don't worry, okay? The same goes for all of us. Even the elders._ __

What's it like in the Akatsuki? Don't answer if it hurts, okay? Is that old man from Taki there? I've always at least wanted to see him in person. Maybe I will some day. I get the feeling that I will, and that it won't be on hostile terms. Sounds weird but I feel it in my chest.

_ I figure you're busy and don't want to spend all of your time reading letters, so I'll end this here. Anyway, remember that I love you a lot and I always will._

_ Junkyōsha o iruku._

_ Takeshi._

~INAF~

The last line before his name seemed as if it were written in a rush of opinion, putting the words on the paper before he could convince himself otherwise. And I wish he had. 'Live the martyr.' I didn't want to think of myself as a martyr. Martyrs died young, something I didn't really want for myself. Though it was the most likely option, after all.

"I need to thank Zetsu-sama," I murmur to myself. He was the one to deliver it. But that would come later. For now I was going to prepare for the mission with Hidan-baka, for which we would leave in a few days. My pack needed restocking, lacking mostly everything important. That would be food, soap (to track one had to be either extremely clean or very dirty, the former being my preference) and medical supplies.

It's easy enough to gather. I take two bottles of water, three MREs (convenient though not entirely appetizing) and a box of assorted pocky sticks from the kitchen. The MREs are easy to eat while on the move and last for quite a while, and the pocky sticks were good to delay hunger or distract myself from it. Plus, pocky was awesome. I stock up on the rest in the sick room. I get some antiseptic, a spoonful worth of a powerful sedative, put into a little vat, a roll of gauze bandages, a small sewing kit made for use on a person and a mini bottle of pain medicine. I jam all of those things into the first aid box I kept in my bag. The soap I need is in the infirmary as well, surgical grade and perfect for my purpose. I take four bars, two to go with me and the other two to stay in my room for use during a shower.

After I'm finished packing everything I have time enough to change into different clothes for my training session with Kisame-sama. It was the first time since my mission with Itachi-sama and the third time ever he would be training me. Honestly, I was surprised in the first place that he was willing to spend time training me at all. He had such an amazing legacy, I could hardly believe I was worth his time. He saw something in me, I suppose, whatever that may be.

I bump shoulders with Tobi, on accident. He seems so uncharacteristic, so deep in thought he lost track his surroundings and of my presence. He just keeps walking, ghosting past me and up the stairs. I avert my eyes. He clearly didn't want any sort of acknowledgement, so I would avoid giving him any.

Kisame-sama is in the training room already, stretching out. He's extremely muscled and could crush me with one hand, I was so frail and he so... not. Upon seeing me he grins and chuckles, calling out, "Hey, kid! Ready to train?"

I nod, swallowing lightly. "Hai. I guess."

He laughs again. "You guess? Oh well. First up's endurance training. You need to build up more chakra if you're gonna be a better swordsman. Hopefully you'll hit a growth spurt soon, it'll be easier."

I offer him a little smile. "Hopefully so."

~INAF~

My legs are seriously gonna fall off. Kisame-sama was insane when it came to training. He was good at motivating me, though part of it was inadvertent. I'd feel horribly guilty disappointing him. He probably knew this, to an extent, because it sure seemed like he was harnessing that and pushing me even further.

Six and a half hours later and I'm finally done. I feel like I'm about to keel over from exhaustion, but Kisame-sama doesn't even look remotely tired. In fact, he wants me back here tomorrow at eight in the morning. He wants me to show some improvement before I head off with Hidan. That's three days from now, and he claims he'll go easy on me on the day before my departure. Yeah right. Training the following day is much the same, just three hours longer. I did lots of endurance training before I was lead through several defense procedures and stances to help me become more light-footed and flowy in my moves. The day after that he keeps me training for only five hours. That day is essentially the same, as well.

The day I'm to leave with Hidan is going smoothly enough. I've eaten a bit, spent a brief ten minutes with Kisame-sama, him telling me things I could practice with my spare time. If I had any. The mission was only supposed to last for a week, but it would be longer after that before Kisame-sama was back at base and would be ready to train me again.

Hidan and I are about to leave when Deidara approaches. He returned the day before yesterday from a mission with Sasori-sama, and we hadn't seen each other since about a week before my mission with Itachi-sama. He hugs me, patting my cheek and saying, "Good luck, un, with the baka." I chuckle slightly at this.

"Thank you, Deidara-sama," I say politely. Tobi was at the top of the stairs watching, remaining unnoticed by the others. I could feel his concealed gaze boring into my chest. He creeped me out and set me on my best behavior.

Deidara makes a childish face at the honorific. "Un, no need for that, Amaya-chan," he reassures me. "Now, seriously, un, bye bye."

I nod somewhat solemnly at him, turning to face the impatient and annoyed looking Hidan. Time to go then.

~INAF~

Crunch.

I close my eyes briefly, clenching them closed even tighter at the next sound, this time of a series of crunches. That was followed by a pause and another 'crunch'. I think I'm having an aneurysm. Hidan-baka-sama seemed to be consistently obnoxious and purposefully annoying, so I wasn't surprised about this. But it was still pretty ridiculous.

"Hidan-sama," I begin, "We will be arriving at our destination shortly. Should we stop to confirm a plan?"

He snorts. "Fuck no, little bitch," he chews noisily, "I'm not a plan sort of fuckin' person."

"Then I will come up with one myself-"

There's a whirl of movement and he's pinned me by my throat to the nearest tree, squeezing my neck threateningly hard. I can't breathe correctly, my air coming in short, raspy gasps. It's painful to attempt it. "Let's get this straight, little bitch," he growls. His voice is low and his violet eyes are glowing with fury and the promise of violence. "You are completely at my fucking mercy. And I am not very damn merciful. Now I won't kill your dumbass yet, cause I might need a fuckin' sacrifice later. But you're walking on a_ very __**thin**__ line_."

I nod. His voice got quieter as he progressed, his eyes narrowing and grip tightening at his last few words. My eyes are wide and I'm biting the inside of my mouth, hard enough that blood welled up. "I understand," I gasp out.

He smiles, a sarcastic upturning of the corner of his lips. His hand disappears from my throat. I press a hand to my neck as he turns around. The clenching of his hand to form a fist was my only sort of warning. He whirls back around, the little smile from before now complete and frightening. He raises his fist and it comes in contact with my cheek. I choke on my own air as my mouth fills with blood from my teeth loosening. None of them fall out, thankfully, but the result was the same.

His footsteps are letting me know he was leaving me now. He says nothing, just keeps on walking, so I just spit the blood from my mouth onto the ground and follow after him. I feel like crying but I'm trying to keep everything in. That would only infuriate him even more. Then I could very well be a sacrifice.

I already was, though.

~INAF~

_ To Takeshi-_

_ I don't know what that last line was supposed to mean._

_ My time in the Akatsuki's fine, I guess. Better than I was expecting in some ways. When I first got to the base I had to fight against one of the members. Almost died. Then I'd gotten myself a sensei, Kisame. He's helping me with my swordsmanship._

_ Not long ago I angered one of them inadvertently. He made it clear he'd kill me. Punched me and let me know I was nothing. In retrospect, I kind of earned it._

_ Why does everyone say little comments like yours? I don't get it. I wish everyone would stop. Or that maybe I'd be murdered by one of them already. It's only a matter of time._

_ Amaya._

~INAF~

_ 'A love you light is a love soon gone.' _

~INAF~

Well I feel like this chapter is really lacking. For some reason I can't write a whole lot right now, I simply just can't. This chapter's too short and has little actually happening. Oh well. If you have thoughts on how I can improve or ideas on how this plot could be going better then please share.


End file.
